F o rewo rd

To the man of afiairs genealogy an d poetry are alike Y t a has e forbidden fruit. e , occ sionally, one b en found bold enough to intimate that a little poetry would prove not only harmless but helpful to the poor human dray

of m ac . horse of commerce or law, finance or anuf tures An d as s if on e has re , again, to doubtful indulgence , ligiously abstained both from whist and whisky un til he - P l has attained the life limit of the sa mist, he may per haps at about the age of seventy take now and then a ld- has moment of comfort in either. O fashioned whist of been spoken of as an allowable dissipation the aged, and, perhaps a like remark may be made concerning A has n o s h genealogy . young man busine s wit it whilst m t s really i portant duties call and await a tention . Beside , h h f to t e young, it leads the way to a abit o mendacity o o —s destruc or, at least, f r mancing uch as might prove a s t s tive to business morals and reputation . But ag in t hi temptation age opposes a settled character and sen se of respon sibility ; an d the old man may measurably be — trusted to fin d the truth and to tell it ii upon reflection A . f Am r an he finds it best to tell anything amous e ic wit, i the of a has descant ng upon importance e rly education, h i hinted t at we cannot beg n the work too ea rly, an d that it is well to begin education at least so far back as to ’ e h - s s cure t e well considered birth of one s grandparen t . F O R E 'W O R D

It I the - was, think, one of same type of self complacent Boston Brahmins who indulged the presumption that a well-born man of the old Massachusetts stock would r i never have occasion to be bo n again . Without g ving the m ex least countenance to such a clai , one might hold cusable a certain consciousness of an early an d long an d “ ” valuable education on the part of a scion of a stock which had participated in the development of the ever -be o al r to reverenced Col ni cha acter, and which had, prior a s to the Colonial period, been tr nsplanted out of oil from which during many centuries great souls and deeds had grown . A just satisfaction an d pride in the progress of American democracy is distinctly in accord with a senti ment of respect toward the far-away ancestry of Nor ma o e ndy and of Greater and Minor Brittany, wh s t l s streng h, courage and achievements in medie va time l en went far toward rendering possible the civi ization, lighten men t and freedom enjoyed by us now in such ample measure . The a author is under obligation to many kind he rts , - l a well informed minds, and wil ing h nds, for aid in fur h in In an he ish g facts herein con tained . the Motherl d an d his companion were most hospitably entertained and The efficiently assisted in their researches . authorities Lo l i of the British Museum at ndon, and of the Bod e an L r Ox Y ib ary at ford, as well as of the libraries at ork N E e s and ottingham and xeter, were attentive and gen rou n a to their wa ts . Many facts were gathered in convers tion and correspondence with church officers and with t as o her influential and intelligent gentlemen, and the sistan ce derived from perusing such rare and valuable 8 F O R E W O R D

Du T D works as those of gdale, horoton, rake, Gale, S Banks, Walker, and peight (all of whom have paid be much respect to the fathers herein mentioned) , was A o yond value . t h me he has been indebted not a little

H S . to his revered friend, ugh Vail of anta Barbara, Cal a ( now deceased) , and to that accomplished g ene logist - O and self denying and industrious philanthropist, liver L in fi ld — Pl e . . a N . B eonard, of , J whose ancestor partici pated with Nathaniel Fitz Randolph in the movement which gave to Princeton College a local habitation, and whose esteemed wife is an heir to all the Fitz Randolph d o tra iti ns . Where the writer has found differences existing be tween accredited antiquarians ‘and historians on subjects the of no vital importance to aim of his narrative, he has adapted his recitals to the information or opinions ad van ced by those whose research has seemed the most A n thorough . s to certai matters he has quoted from ff o For di ering auth rities . example, in reproducing the ’ n D E quai t plate from rake s boracum, he has, in keeping with the picture and with the language of the conveyance A D of lands from William to lan ( as quoted by rake) , brought forward such statements and inferences as Dr ake an d Dugdale and others have made to the effect that Alan R A Fer an t t ufus was the same person as lan g , and hat he was both nephew and son-in -law to William the Con ueror A q . ccording to Gale, however, we would be led to believe that these two names represent two distinct — A Fer an t persons that lan g , the son of a certain per ’ son a e Hoe] g named , did marry William s daughter, Con A R ’ stance, but that lan ufus was William s important

9 F O R E W O R D

side artn er t a ‘ p , and hat, though a near kinsm n of the Con

- - ueror ia . q , he was neither his nephew nor his son law In an d ra my own modest narrative, in the diag m and o h I outline given at the end of this prefat ry c apter, ven ’ ’ Du dale s ture to prefer Gale s lines to g , and even to so H important and accurate an authority as ume, who, on 1 page 63 of the first volume of his History of E ngland, ff A the ih tells us in e ect that the great lan, who joined of vading William with a large force fighting men, was H on the son of oel and grandson of C an, Duke of Brit tany ; and several encyclopedic and historical writers o in have fashi ned their records, as to the facts here ’ volved, on Hume s model . In the course of preparing his book the writer has come into the rare good fortune o f owning a well-pre ’ In served copy of Roger Gale s Honoris de Richmond . fluen ced a “ two by an old tradition th t Gale had, hundred i years ago, outlined the fam ly history, he had sought the book throughout E ngland with the same zest evinced by John Burroughs in his pursuit of the nightingale through A that delightful country, and it had evaded him . fter much search he was by special permission permitted to have a few pages transcribed from a copy of the book o possessed by an old library . When at last a singular p portun ity was offered for acquiring own ership of the valued volume, he gladly availed of it, and has studied i diligently this universally respected authority . It is n

- — — demi folio form , well printed partly in colors and con No its tains some beautiful engravings . small part of clear Latin text has reference to the facts and lines of the F R itz andolph family .

1 0 F O R E W O R D

Th The e foreword is not infrequently the last word . f i his author finds, perhaps, on his hands, a ter complet ng s of s o book, a re idue unassorted fact , and, p ssibly, of a c s piqu nt suggestions, and these he gathers up and s atter b l v a out what professes to be the thresho d of his olume, much in the same way in which our fishermen of the New — “ ” Jersey coast when they are chumming for bluefish flin g about their bait promiscuously in order to lure the sh To fi worth catching to the vicinity of the catchers . an indictment of this character the writer of this book might — The plead guilty with reservations . larger part of this s prefatory chapter was written in advance of the book . A “ ” to any attempt at piquancy, the writer should be in — advance shriven of guilt as touching a little work, much of whose material must of necessity consist of such A I records and paragraphs as braham begat saac, and I o an d saac begat Jac b, and Jacob begat Joseph his breth ” “ ” ern . r Conce ning unassorted facts, the writer con fesses that he has still on hand a considerable supply, and — he takes to himself at least this credit that he has not Not burdened his readers with them . that they are de oi s e v r void intere t, for they s rve in arious ways to butt ess an d sufli his thought statements, but the narrative is

ci en tl so . y complete without them, and they are withheld On e u an d or two occ r to him in writing these lines, may be merely mentioned . Reference is made in the course of the narrative to the religious thought and position of the family of E dward I th the Pilgrim . t may be well to emphasize e statement h P x h t at they were not uritans , though to some e tent t ey were in sympathy with the Puritan position as differing

I I F O R E W O R D

with the religious autocracy established by Henry VIII. S m till, for about a hundred years, reaching fro the as ’ sumption by Henry of the control of E ngland s ec clesi astical establishment to the departure from E ngland of E P F R a dward the ilgrim, these itz andolphs were p rt and ’ H T the c parcel of enry s church . his appears in hurch S records at utton and at Kirkby, and in various other ways ; and the writer has been privately favored with a copy of a record concerning a certain dispute as to pew rights which arose in Tudor times between the family of Christopher Fitz Randolph and the noble an d distin n A guished ancestors of Colonel William Langto Coke . decision on thi s question was rendered in the ecclesiastical courts, and mention of it can only be of interest here as ’ confirming the religious affiliations of Christopher s fam i If ily at that t me. a man in those days desired to live at E a all in ngl nd or to have any peace in living, and, espe ciall e a c y , if he were a p rson of gentle birth, then the ces sity arose ( an d it could hardly be escaped from) to re main a member of the church which had been thus estab T lished . tt here seems li le reason to doubt, however, that the Fitz Ra ndolphs had preferred to remain in the old — Catholic communion though the en terprise and liberality Di s of their thought had longed for a larger liberty . l P Ed allowing the a leged uritanism of our ancestor, ward “ P I ma the ilgrim, y add that he had not become a dis senter” in the ordinary sense of that word for some time I after his arrival at Cape Cod . t was seven years after he reached Massachusetts before he joined the Dissent P a ing, or ilgrim , Church at Barnst ble, and that act was closely associated with his happy alliance with the family

1 2 - F O R E W O R D

of Blossom, who had long been both dissenters and pil grims . On e other unassorted fact may be just mentioned as here . Th e writer remembers how from boyhood he w puzzled at the derivation of certain names of the early Ne He w Jersey hamlets . learned later that the old settle ment near the mouth of the Rarita n was called Pi scat away in a somewhat careless imitation of the name of the New E P n e a ngland town , iscataqua . O other n me puzzled him an d Totown Tow still more, that was the name of , or T town . his last name has persisted to the present day . It must have been conferred upon the little hamlet to which it attached by the descendants of those sixteenth century Westmorelands whose ancestors had bravely fallen in the Lanca strian cause in the disastrous battle of T t 1 6 1 f ow on in 4 , and thus had le t records of honor and of noble courage which their later descendants have been glad by any means, however humble, to perpetuate . Towton was really the turning point in the fratricidal “ T strife known as the Wars of the Roses . o suggest something of a parallel in our own day, Gettysburg may Th n be mentioned . e great contest co tinued afterward , but almost without hope of ultimate success to the party E I then vanquished . King dward V had , after a des o perate and bl ody battle, beaten the sixty thousand sol diers arrayed against him by Queen Margaret, and she had fled away northward (as the Confederates fled south e ward after G ttysburg) , and had left upon the lost field - A thirty six thousand of her slain . mongst the fallen E N were the arls of Westmoreland and orthumberland , — Sir John Neville an d Lord Dacres the first bein g then

1 3 F O R E W O R D at the head of the family whose history is somewhat fol our t lowed in book, and the three others here men ioned being close kinsmen and compatriots in the Lancastrian r cause . No wonder that the descendants of these g eat E a arls should be proud of their courage , honor and p r i t iot sm as displayed on the sanguinary field of Towton . Th e writer follows , in his final recapitulation and de A ’ of D . . F r E . tailed facts descent, reeman s lines from the conquest of Normandy by Rolf to the conquest of ’ E I an d R ngland by William , oger Ga le s lines from ff T E Geo rey of Brittany to homas, dward, Christopher, R — th andolph and Cuthbert and for e rest, the church he T register and mural tablet and t records of horoton , F a N R . Bl ckner, Vail and athaniel itz andolph T - The his book is far from being a later day genealogy . bit of patchwork at the end may serve as an example of — — what can readily be done and doubtless better by auv on e else who will take the trouble to inquire about his h e redit i y , and who w ll paste on paper the facts ascertained , f rom right to left ; that is, toward the earlier generations . The writer lacks precise data of other personal or local lines, and possesses no fund of particular information such as would be useful to an y other member of the fam ily in tracing his own lineage forward from the Pilgrim i T E N . dward of ott nghamshire his fact he regrets, for H r he would gladly be of further service . avin g t aced wn to P o his o line ilgrim progenit rs , and having gathered b e h su stantial facts as to collateral conn ctions, he as then continued to follow the threads to their early sources . All the Fitz Randolphs of the United S tates are descended In t from E dward of Nottinghamshire . his fact rests the

I4 F O R E 'W O R D chief possibility of interest possessed by this book to an y A e n who mericans who may now b ar the ame, or to any have come of this stock . If the information with care collected and herein col lated can be relied on, and if such deductions and infer en es c as the writer has made are reasonable, then the fol lowing g eneral outline may fairly represent a Story of a T Y housand ears .

LIS T OF ILLUS TRATIONS

i h l in 1 80 M ddle am Cast e 7 . ’ n uer if t l n The Co q or s G t o A a . ’ Y r . St. Mary s Abbey , o k

Ulshaw B ridg e. l h r rt r S ea of t e fi st Rob e B uce. lx Jervau Abb ey . l ffe John Wy c i . o erham bbe C v A y . E fi i e at o erham g s C v .

Middleham Castl e. e Th e K ep .

Ki rk Gate, Middleham. f th astle Plan o e C . i rd R cha III . id hur ld Ak . M dleh am C ch ( St. e a ) ll r n ton a on t. La g H , F n l - f- Fitz Ra do ph Coat o Arms. l en n ith orn e h urc h S t. i ch ae th e rc han el . Sp C ( M , A g ) r ilfrid Ki rb hu ch t. y C ( S W ) . an t n all— id an d r L g o H S e Rea .

S utton h urch St. ar a dalen e C ( M y M g ) . TAB LE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Ori i n of the ame. Its earl ssociation s an d S i n ifi n g N y A g ca ce, 2 1

CHAPTER II

The amil in arl n lish imes an d Its De n F y E y E g T , sce t throug h Li n es of Nobili ty an d Roy alty

CHAPTER III — The Family at Middleham an d at S p en n ithorn e The Ki n ship to Ra ven sworth an d th e F rien dship to Wy cliffe

CHAPTER IV S ifti ames an d elation shi s an d on siderin Norman N — R p C g aaracter Its Relig ious Predilection s an d Its Noblest roduction G eor e ashin t n P , g W g o

CHAPTE R V Middl eham Castle an d S ome of Its Occupan ts

CHAPTER VI F rom Yorkshire to Nottin ghamshire an d B ack ; with a Short u i r l r S t dy n He a d y .

CHAPTER VII

Ki r b S utton an d an ton all k y , L g H

CHAPTER VIII The Fitz Ran dolph House as Con j oin ed with th e Westmore lan d House

CHAPTER IX Review of Lin e of Descen t from Rolf the Norseman to Edward the Pilg rim

CHAPTER X Fitz Ran dolph Prin ciples an d Later Fortun ate Allian ces Con clusion Fi tz R an do lph Traditi o n s

CHAPTE R I

ORIGIN or THE NAM E ; ITS E ARLY ASSOCIATIONS AND S IGNIFICANCE

The f c u c an d the en s absence o h r h records , sl derne s of o o I m st s rts of public records, prior to the year 537, create a portion of the difli culty encountered in tracing early E T a nglish family history . his diffi culty is not little aug men ted (in the endeavor to follow a kinship earlier than the sixteenth century) in the fact that the surn ames were more or less shifting from generation to generation . A rn fa i mongst the common people su ames, or m ly names , a h d e sc rcely existed at all . W en men were epend nts, or a f h e c serv nts, or ser s, t ey w re lu ky enough to have one

h k . name, even t ough that were sometimes only a nic name A he i mong t nobles the dist nctive title, or lordship, was the thing whose persistence was desired and hoped for . Th of rimo en i is title, or lordship, descended in a line p g ture . Possibly in the younger and collateral branches a n u r ut sur ame would persist for s ccessive gene ations ; b , even then, it might not descend in perpetuity. A few of the old Norman names have been handed

2 1 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

down marked by the Norman-French prefix Among these is the name Rand olph sl Like many other names of the ea rlier and less accurate ages it had several

r . It N fo ms or phases was of orse origin, and, in one or r D more of its fo ms, was known to the anes, who were in th d A r e Mid le ges a vigorous, warlike and agg essive na A D fin d tion . mong the descendants of the anes we the “ R T i R an d name auf. his was a mod fication of olf ; its R later form, alph, came to be used as an abbreviation of rt Ran ce ain longer forms of the same name, such as ' Ran dolle Ran dolfl e Ran ul h R Ran dolph, , , p , udolph and a All as d ll . these, and others, and the monosyllabic style e well, are used int rchangeably as relating to the same per r son ( or to the same family) by the histo ians, antiqua rians and authorities on heraldry of the seventeenth and

eighteenth centuries, upon whose information we largely depend in our endeavors to trace family lines and history . There appea r to be two rather dissimilar origi nal mean — n H ings to this ancient Norse name o e meaning is ero,

the other is Big Wolf . :l: The a n me, in its ampler form or forms, was brought to E ngland by the Norman conquerors in the latter half of the eleventh century, and was used, first, as the simple i name of an indiv dual, and afterwards as designating a

‘ n n n S ig ifyi g so of. fi t i s s me n p y with some th e i z Ran d he th e argu o thi g of a it that O of F t ol . men t of con ve n ien ce has prevaile d” lea di n them to dr op e begi n n in g orti on of the ir n ame an d thus creat mg eon u si on wi th the more n umer ous a Am n am Ran Th e r er mse ma e en tish n d er ic a f ily of dolphs. w it hi lf y hav hi e i n c m r misi n on th e i n as m n ers been at fault all s lif o p o g itial F. a y oth “ ” a e n e i n e s n th e c m e e an d s n c n re i z. h v do , li u of u i g o pl t ig ifi a t p fix F t TThe see min g dissimilar ity partly rec edes u n rec allin g th e fact that co urag e an d fiercen ess we r e n early allie d i n t e he r oic c on ception of e In ich the right to con quer was regarded as in heren t i n on e who had . age mtg{h

22 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

h a continuing family . T e first use of the name in E n gl nd was in close connection with the family of William the R Conqueror himself, and it will be noted that olf, the great ’ N In orse Chieftain was William s ancestor . bringing

forward this connection, we will therefore take a step backward to the parent trunk from which sprung the stem which became intertwined and engrafted not only with the Conquering Norman but also with his descend a E ants and with several le ding families of ngland, whose D P scions developed from ancient S axon, anish and ictish

stock. The first prominent character who bore the name was i R as AD . 860 the Vik ng leader olf, who w born about , 2 H f and who died in 93 . e made himself independent o H N i F arold of orway, v sited Scotland, E ngland and lan r x 1 2 ders in his va ious e peditions, and about the year 9 established himself in what is now kn own as northern F r D His ance, and became the first uke of Normandy . o own name has also undergone s me variations in history . S a R “ L ometimes he is c lled ollo ( the atin form) , and again Rou ( the French form) and it would appear that the town of Rouen in northern France was named for T s him . his S candinavian ( and ometime pagan) invader

embraced Christianity, but this did not deter him from i pursuing h s vocation as a warrior . From the first of his lodgment in France he was involved in the con troversies

‘ ” ’ “ At the en d th e l oth or isi n lwer s s of book, div o of Bu La t of the ” “ r n s he n r ce s his re er to The l m n e l d r Ba o , i t odu ad il u i at d hal of E wa d, ere the ab e was spre for th e t o al r sat, an d r m th e wh t l ad, f o gallery r ai sed aloft the musmxan s gave orth e rough an d sti t t in mel ody ' c r d al ly en usa e, bu c was n ce the rman s whi h had g a u fall out of. t whi h o o n ation al ai r an d which the warlike ar aret of An jou had retaught her — ’g min strels THE BATTLE Hq or Rom . 23 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

which were in progress between the French princes and

. U a ok dukes pon his professing Christi nity, he to the R D the F te name of obert from the uke of rench, who ac d as his godfather ; but he was still generally spoken of

by his Norse name . His Lo son and successor was William , surnamed ng ” - sword, who became the right hand man of King Charles

F 2 N i . of rance in 9 7 , and reigned in ormandy unt l 943 ’ “ F s William s son and successor was Richard the earles , and it was during his long reign of half a century that the Duchy of France was united with the Western King r n H dom, and the g eat combi ation was made of the igh

D Lo D ch F n A a em s . utch, w ut , re ch and quit nian el ent F R a AD 6 . Hi s R h d ichard the e rless died . 99 son was ic ar “ ” Go un the od, who reigned thirty years and kept an r He broken f iendship between Normandy and France . m ac would have none but gentle en about him, and in f t a en His est blished a nobility which became perman t . sis E th e a 1 002 m Aethelred ter, mma, in ye r , arried , the S x E an d he firs a on King of ngland, this marriage was t t link in the chain of events that led to the Norman Con quest of E ngland . ’ After Aeth elred s death and the establishment in E n g of D E m h n land the ane Cnut, mma arried Cnut. T e so and successor of Richard the Good was a third Richard 1 028 who reigned only two years, to , and still kept up

F . T R A the rench alliance his ichard had a sister, vicia, e ff alfri u who married G o rey ( sometimes called G d s) , D o h uke f Brittany, and his posterity forms t e chief sub

cet h . In an d j of t is book the same line, after this third Ri R e f difli ultie chard, came ob rt, who ell into c s with Cnut

24

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

Alarms Ni er t ers, g , who also died wi hout issue, another o S te hen br ther p , who ( one after another) succeeded to E R Ribald L the arldom of ichmond, and , ord of Middle B ardul son A ham, and i , whose kar was the founder of osevaulz A s rcia J , an bbey of the Ce te n Order in this N T R orthern ract . ibald had by gift from his brother A h raston e S en in e lan, Middle am, together with S c , p g Havo s ll a dles His R torpe, g we and W . son, alph, suc ceeded His A a R r him . wife, gath , was daughter to obe t he de Brus of Skelton, and had with her t Lordship of ” Ail i s ew c in Hertn es . “ To R r Ran ul h obe t succeeded p his son and heir, who

1 t a . in 3 Joh . was acquit ed from the S cutage of S cotl nd He a Ral he was buried at Coverham, le ving issue p his F -R l R Ra an u h . son, commonly called phe itz p aphe was summoned with other eminent men of the North to go ‘ ’ with Horse and Arms and all the power he could make to march into S cotland for rescue of the King of that R H III ealm, who had married a daughter of enry , out ” of the hands of his rebellious subjects .

These details are given here partly by way of connect R R Ran ing the name of the first olf, or alf (or Rauf, or ul h Ra S p , or ndolph) , of candinavian leadership, with the n ame an d descent as we find it in Northern E ngland soon after the successful invasion of William the Conqueror n It a d of his allies of the family of E udo . will be seen that it was the blood of these brave Norsemen ( more or e less recrossed, inbred and intermingl d) that has de scended through the lines of British kings and noble families .

’ H OTOGRAP H F RO RA K S E B ORAC or P , M D E UM , T H E AI NT A N D A N CIEN T RAW I N G RE PRE QU D , S E N TI N G WILLIA M TH E CON QUEROR I N THE ACT or DELIVE RI N G To HI S NEPH EW A N D S ON - I N LA W ALA N TH E MU N I MEN TS or T ITLE TO MI D DLE H A M A N D OTH ER IM PORTA N T E N GLI S H ROP RTI S H S ROP RTI S S B S N TL P E E . T E E P E E U EQUE Y A S S D I NTO TH E OS S S S ION or R IB ALD P E P E , B ROTH ER OF ALA N A N D G RA N DF ATH ER or ROB E RT F ITZ R A N DOLP H LORD or IDDL H A I N , M E M T H E W LFTH N T R T E CE U Y . A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

We pause again in our narrative here to introduce the form of conveyance of the northern E nglish properties T made by William the Conqueror to Alan . his is copied F D from the quaint and valuable work by rancis rake, b u : F . o R . . 1 6 E rac m Gent, S , published in 73 , entitled “ * E o Gulielmus B astardus et g , cognomine , do concedo Al n e oti B ritan ic comiti t heredibus tibi ano, p meo, , e tuis et n u er in perpetuum, omnes illas villas terras, que p fueren t comitis E dwin i in E borascin ia ; cum foedi s mil et e l sius et ii s li ertatibus t con fuetudin ibus itum cc e , al b e , i - ita libere et hon ozifice ficut idem E dw n us ea tenuit . ” D a or i t in oblidion e cozam civitate E b ac . ’ On the page in Drake s E boracum opposite the nar rative of the capture of the City of York by William and his allies, is a curious plate representing William in the act of handing over to the kneeling Al an the important document conveying to him the ownership of this im mense domain . The R Richmon dshire author of omantic , referring to this enormous gift made by William the Conqueror to “ A the lan, speaks of property as consisting of no fewer ’ 0 1 0 than 44 manors and 4 knights fees , besides many o r other b unties and privileges, which ea ned for him P E A His sometimes the title of rince of the ast ngles . territorial possessions alone were probably not far short of acres, and they were amongst the fairest in E It ngland . is, however, not quite clear why the Con queror should bestow all this wealth on a single on e of m his followers, and we can only sur ise that some ar

‘ ’ ’ As m s ren e e a s me s r E n n . to Willia pa tag se l o Hu s Hi to y of gla d , Vol I, “ ” . 1 2 He re i n hi s c n men . p 6 . joiced og o 27 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S rangement was made between William and the martial * Count, his cousin, or perhaps with his father, that, in E the event of victory attending the invasion of ngland, - and for the aid rendered by the Count, whose well drilled reg iments are said to have numbered fully one-third of th ’ e Conqueror s army, these lands and honors were to ” be bestowed . A d of E re lan ied without issue, and the nglish lands — ceived by him lying largely and chiefly in the northern — counties of E ngland he ga ve to his brother Ribald cer n s Ghil atric D tai e tates which had belonged to p , the ane, whose home and camp had been, prior to the Conquest, n Y upo an eminence overlooking Middleham in orkshire . T e a n hese st tes were Middleham, Bolton, S pe nithorne,

T a l an d . hornton, W t ass, four others

‘ S ei ears a ree wi Gal e as to th e p ght app to g th e d gree of relati on ship.

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

It i t is known that the Castle of Middleham, bu l by R er F Ra o the e s ob t litz nd lph, passed into poss s ion of Rob N e ert evill , who married Mary, eldest of the three daughters* of the last-mentioned Randolph Fitz Ran dolph ; and the descendants of Robert Neville and Mary F itz Randolph have filled the foremost places in E n glish r o histo y. Their blood has come down t our day in the e P a T o S u Gu v ins of all the l ntagenet, ud r, t art and elph H r II sovereigns of E ngland ( always excepting en y V , the T n first udor king, who seized the crown on a prete se) , and the same Fitz Randolph blood is commingled in nearly

all the important royal families of Continental E urope . E ntering through Richard Plantagenet (who married the F R great, great, great granddaughter of Mary itz andolph Ed IV R of Middleham) the lineage includes ward , ichard III E E H r , dward V and his sister lizabeth, the queen of en y VII A fe r . w details are given below, including a eview of f en h a ew facts already m tioned . These are gat ered from various historical authorities—including Green’ s History ’ ’ E H E Gairdn er s of ngland , ume s History of ngland, H L 1 2 ouse of ancaster, British Cyclopedia, Vol . 4 , page 57 , P P ’ “ ” “ A J . . ritchett s Works of the Nevilles and ccount of C Du Middleham astle and Church , and the works of g n d dale, Banks a other writers .

‘ rm n an d n c ar n e an lan . . n s L n don Do a t Exti t B o ag of g g d by T C Ba k , p ,

1 807 . e 1 66 . A so see B ar n a e E n n i n S n i me , Vol I, pag l p g of la d axo T to

rman n es b Wm. al e n n 1 67 5 on e 1 . er t on No Co qu t y Dugd , Lo do Bulw Ly t “ ”—“ says i n The Last of the Bar on s Middleham Castle was bui lt Robe rt h r r z Ran ulp h , r n s n R , y n er r er t e E a etag e Fit g a d o of ibald ou g ” b oth of l of n h e i s ere s In an d Ri chmon d n ephew to the Con quer or . T e n ov l t h follow ( rd fri n shi A n i m th e n es e an d n s re to the p of la to W llia li of Dugdal Ba k , ’ di eri n g somewhat from Gal e s c areful y drawn gen ea logi cal Th er r n a r r e o mion en er i n e b al e e wr it of this book b i fo wa d th p t ta d y Dugd , ’ i n the in i ct re r m ra e s r c m Ban ks an d Bulwer i n exh bit g qua t u f o D k Ebo a u , ’ r p m re r e but h e in clin es to Gal e s Opin ion as p obab y o accu at . 30 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

R F Ra h obert itz ndolph built t e Castle of Middleham,

AD . 1 1 0. His Hele isa 9 wife was w de Glanville . Their son Randolph“ Fitz Randolph ( sometimes called R F R of alph itz obert) married Margery, the daughter R D T im obert Bigot, the uke of Norfolk . his was an Ro r portant alliance . ger Bigot ( o Bigod) was Con N r Nor stable of o wich Castle , one of the founders of w ich Cathedral, and one of the first great leaders to pro P E Hi s test against absolute apal domination in ngland . seal and that of his son are found on the exemplification a of Magna Chart , which he was largely instrumental in obtaining for the E nglish people from King John ; and both he and his son were numbered among the twenty five barons who then controlled the sovereignty of E ngland . The son of Randolph and Margery was Ralph ( or Ra F R o A a dau h ndolph) itz and lph who married nast sia, g Lo P ' 1 26 . ter of William, rd ercy,1 and died about 9 T F Ran do h o heir daughter, Mary itz p , married ( ab ut 1 260 Ro N Lo R ) bert eville, rd of aby, lineally descended Uchtred th E from , e great S axon arl of Northumberland

‘ Ran or Ran ul h us or Ral . He an d er s i s n ame are dolph , p p h oth of th men i n ed i n r s re c rds an d s ri es s met me s n er on e s e an d t o va iou o hi to , o i u d tyl r r en r an d r r an H r s n on e ag ai n un de an othe . As H y Ha y d al a e sub ta tially n me , so are th e var s rms the n me R n p , an d t ey are so a iou . fo of a a dol h h se i n s th e ri er m re re en sin the n me R n as u d thi book, w t o f u tly u a a dol h q ’ th e m te so ven an d e v en 0 ers. 11 G e s n e s a”d it d l t qui al t oth al Lati gi rum on i c re re n ce i s c e the rms se i n the rec r s t , wh h g at lia la d. fo u d o d of the z Ran s Newll es an es m r e n s are Ran ul h us an d Fit dolph , W t o la d p Radulp hus. tTh e Fitz Ran dolph blood has receive d a double in jecti on of th e blood h er d r e of the great Percy famil Earls of Nort umb l an d an Wo c ester . W have he re the fact that e mother of Mary Fitz Ran dolph of Middleham was a erc an d we s l see er h er re r n son Oi n ed i n wed P y , ha l lat that g at g a d j ese es t i n ere lock with on e of this i llustrious family. Th two lin o k ship w r n d i e in e an d e er much un ited in fo tu e an n fe l g . Th y fought f ll togeth at n i n th e een cen ury, a d i n the si een t hey t e er ess ye Towto fift th t n xt h t . og th a d — r s — i s an r r i n bravely though f ui tle sly to W th t d Tudo agg ess o . 3 1 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

an d E lf i va E 11 . his wife, g , daughter of King thelred R N i 1 2 1 H s 1 20. obert eville died in 7 . wife died in 3 Their only son was Ral ph (or Randolph) the first L N H L ord eville, who was summoned to the ouse of ords by E dward I in the famous Parli amen t of Lincoln called 1 01 He a in the year 3 . died in the fifth year of E dw rd 111 A 1 2 is D . . H , that is 33 first wife was E uphemia , T R daughter of John Clavering. heir only child, obert, e 1 1 Hi di d childless in 3 8. s first wife having died also, e T o he married Margery, daught r of Marmaduke hw ng, R R the and they had one son, alph or andolph, who was ill ’ hero of the Battle of Nev e s Cross in 1 346 . This Ran 1 He dolph enlarged the Castle of Middleham in 400. -first E II AD died in the forty year of dward I , that is 1 His A 68 . e H Au 3 wife was licia, daught r of ugo de dle was N y , and their only son John (de eville) who par ticipated with his father in the glory and the gain of ’ N n eville s Cross , conducti g the negotiation by which the S D a e cottish King avid, c ptur d at that battle, was ran somed l for a arge sum . John married for his first wife P * Mathilde de ercy, and for his second wife E lizabeth L La D daughter and heir of ord timer, of anby . He died ’ AD 1 Th . 389 . e posterity of the second wife s children t appears to have come to an end in the next genera ion . By R the first wife John had a son, andolph, who was by Richard II in the year 1 397 created E arl of Westmore R of land . andolph Westmoreland was a vigorous, able the 1 He man who lived until year 435. had two wives

“ Her e the blood of th e Percies Dukes of Northu—mberl an d an d of Worceste r again min gles with th e Fitz Ran dplph blood c on ti n uin g so to do throi h subse en t gen e rati on s an d un ti l our da The father of M i descen ggn t i m or erc n amel rd en r er atilda i of W llia L d P y, y H y P cy) e n e an d r ec e n W cli fl e a ai n s the Arc i s n er r def d d p ot t d Joh y g t hb hop of Ca t bu y. 32 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

w n n by hom he had about a even score of childre , nearly His s all of whom became titled and powerful . large a tates were principally divided between the eldest son by e E e the first marriage ( who, of cours , became arl of W st an d s s moreland) the elde t on by the second marriage , who became the great E arl of S alisbury an d Warwick or e E a ( whose m famous son, the arl of W rwick, was “ known as Warwick the King having the York r -H n shire estates of Middleham and S he iff utto . The first of the two wives of Ralph or Randolph de Nev l E a e m a L i le , rl of W st orel nd, was Margaret, ady ’ tafl ord a n n E I an d o S , desce da t of King dward , the sec nd w f w s o n i e a J an of Beaufort, daughter of John of Gau t, E III who was a son of dward . For the moment we defer specific attention to the line e n n R D l d sce di g from andolph , uke of Westmore and , by L S ff an d his first wife, ady ta ord, proceed with the nota ble n m R se li e of descent fro andolph and his con d wife, ort s n e Joan of Beauf . By thi wife he had amo gst oth r “ u e The children, a da ghter named Cic ly, who was called R r R P an Du ose of who ma ried ichard l tagenet, ke Y h s ai e 1 w wa 0. of ork , o sl n at the battl of Wakefield in 46 In w e N m vie of the fact that the lin of evil , or West ore t s r land , en er so largely into the wa p and woof of this n i a e i narrative, we i terrupt here the genealog c l d ta ls above commenced to in sert a few lin es from the 283d and ’ 284th pages of the second volume of Hume s History of E ngland touching the character and record of Richard

‘ r tc e t r em r s e r ever t al am i n r e can r ce i ts P i h t a k , N a ly y o f ily Eu op t a ‘ ’ r m h s me n e an d e ul c e Th e R se R . descen t f o t e a obl b auti lady, all d o of aby

33 ; F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

Plantagenet and the circumstances of his alliance with the Nevil* family “ R ichard was a man of valor and abilities , of a pru dent con duct and mild disposition : he en joyed an oppor tun ity of displaying these virtues in the government of France ; and though recalled from that command by the n Du intrigues an d supe rior i terest of the ke of S omerset, in I n he had been sent to suppress a rebellion rela d, had succeeded much better in that en terprise than his rival in th N rm e defence of o andy, and had even been able to attach to his person an d family the whole Irish nation I r whom he was sent to subdue . n the ight of his father he bore the rank first of prince of the blood ; an d by this station he gave lustre to his title derived from the family m r of Morti er, which , though of g eat nobility, was l a i m an d equa led by other f m lies in the kingdo , had been

eclipsed by the royal descent of the house of Lancaster . He possessed an immense fortune from the union of so o n d Y on many successi ns, those of Cambridge a ork the h one and , and those of Mortimer on the other ; which last inheritance had before been augm ented by a un ion of the estates of Clarence an d Ulster with the patrimon ial pos

e of the . The al li an ces too o s ssions family of March , , f Richar d b his marr in the dau hter o R al h N evil , y y g g f p , ar l o Westmorelan d had widel exten ded his i n terest E f , y amon the n obi li t an d had r ocure him man n g y , p d y co l n ection s in that formidab e order . “ Th N m th e family of evil was , perhaps , at this ti e e most

n o pote t, both from their opulent p ssessions and from the

’ ‘ ume s s e n We ere p e n me evil . her hi s r an s h . follow lli g of H o th a N Ot to i ev e or m re en er NeVIll e . spell i t N il , o g ally, 34 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

e of E n . charact rs the men, that has appeared in gland For Lo , besides the E arl of Westmoreland and the rds La me Faucon b r A n the E a ti r, e g , and bergave ny, rls of

S alisbury and Warwick were of that family, and were e an m of themselv s, on m y accounts, the greatest noble en The E t -in - of the kingdom . arl of S alisbury, bro her law to Du Y th e the ke of ork, was e ldest son , by a second E n marriage, of the arl of Westmoreland, and i herited “ e E a (by his wife , daught r and heir of Montacute, rl of il e S alisbury, k led before Orleans) the poss ssions and title h m Hi R . s of t at great fa ily eldest son, ichard , had mar An a E ried ne, the daughter and heir of Beauch mp, arl of Go e F n d Warwick, who died v rnor of rance ; a by this alli he ance enjoyed the possessions , and had acquired the of th a title that o er f mily, one of the most opulent, most

r E . Th n ancient, and most illust ious in ngland e perso al e t e qualiti s also of h se two earls , especially of Warwick, enhanced the splendor of their n obility an d increased T e . t l their influ nce over the people his lat er nob eman, mo n se com nly k own, from the sub quent events, by the e Kin -maker app llation of the g , had distinguished himself a r os by his g llant y in the field , by the h pitality of his table , n an d by the magnifice ce, still more by the generosity, of x e an d his e p nse, by the spirited and bold manner which him Th attended in all his actions . e undesigning frank ness and openness of his character rendered his conquests ’ over men s affections the more certain and infallible ; his presents were regarded as sure testimonies of esteem and e overflo in s fri ndship, and his professions as the w g of his e gen uine sentim nts . N0 less than thirty thousand per sons are said to have daily lived at his board in the dif

35 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

feren t manors and castles which he possessed in E n gland ; th e mun ificen ce hos military men, allured by his and pi a e e t lity, as well as by his bravery, w re z alously attached to his interests ; the people in general bore him an un limited affection ; his numerous retainers were more de voted to his will than to the prince or to the laws ; and he was s the greatest, as well as the last, of tho e mighty baron s who formerly ove rawed the crown and rendered the people incapable of any regular system of civil gov m ” ern en t.

R n ichard and Cicely had six children, amely, King E IV E E R n dward ; dmund, arl of utla d ( who, with his a D father was slain at W kefield) George, uke of Clarence I N w ( who married sabelle eville , daughter of War ick, the - i R III e , c King maker) K ng ichard ( who marri d his ousin , An n N a w eville, second daughter of the gre t War ick) El i n P D S uf izabeth ( who marr ed Joh de la ole , uke of m Du e folk) and Margaret who arried Charles , k of Bur

gundy . The of six E I first the above children, dward V, had en n : E R Du four childr , amely dward V ; ichard, ke of York ; E lizabeth ( who married Henry VII) and Cath who S ir n erine , married William Courte ay. H n VII an d E e ry his wife lizabeth, just mentioned, had in H III who ( the male line) enry V , had (by his wives A An an d m Catherine of ragon , ne Boleyn Jane S ey our) n E Ed childre named Mary and lizabeth and ward , who all n H reigned a d died without issue . enry VII and his wife E l o had izabeth als daughters , Margaret and Mary. ’ a La in Mary s gr nddaughter, dy Jane Grey, was beheaded 1 Ma ma 554 . rgaret rried for her first husband James IV,

36

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

1 8 1 an d m Pr Victoria, who was born in 9, who arried ince — T E VII Al bert of S axe Coburg and Gotha . hus dward , n ow King of E n gland ( son of Victoria) , and all the English sovereign s reignin g before him from E dward IV ex H II down ward ( cepting only enry V ) , have carried in z R their veins the blood of the Fit andolphs, all of them R F R L being descended from obert itz andolph, ord of

Middleham . We have thus followed to some extent the descent of R R Ran ul h alph or andolph ( sometimes also called p ) , son R R Lo L F . of obert itz andolph, rd of Middleham ater R thr ee on we shall see that obert had sons , only one of an d two whom was childless , of whom had long lines of t descent, and that the family of one of hese dwelt long at S m pennithorne near Middleha . It R R has been seen that alph, or andolph, son of R R F Ra L ibald and father of obert itz ndolph, ord of a A R Middleham, m rried gatha , daughter of obert de T - R he Bruis (or de Bruce) . his last named obert was t R u first obert de Bruce, father of the disting ished line of R th e eight obert Bruces, and it is not amiss here to quote résumé of this line as given in the E n cy clopeedia Bri Dr A — m tan nica by . eneas J . G . Mackay this résu é ending

i R B n n ockbum . with K ng obert, the hero and victor of a “ The R first obert de Bruce , a follower of William the

Conqueror, was rewarded by the gift of many manors, Y chiefly in orkshire, of which S kelton was the principal . His son R D 1 , the second obert, received from avid , his H I comrade at the court of enry , a grant of the Lordship A Ro of nnandale ; and his grandson, the third bert, siding ‘ with David against Stephen at the battle of The Stand

38 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

’ S E . ard, became a cottish instead of an nglish baron Th f R I a e ourth obert married sobel, natural d ughter of L R William the ion, and their son, the fifth obert, married

“ DRAWING FROM AGE or Ap pE NDIx or ORI DE ICH MOND P 99 HON S R , REPRE SE NTING THE SEAL or THE FIRST ROB ERT B RUCE

I b D E H n sa ella, second daughter of avid, arl of u tingdon , ” niece of the same Scottish king . “ R r Th 1 2 obe t, called e Bruce ( 74 King of Scot of R L d land, was the son the seventh obert de Bruce, or of A E nnandale in his own right, and arl of Carrick in

39 F I T Z R A N D O L P H TR A D I T I O N S

Mar er His an t e the right of his wife j y . gr dfa h r , x h R S c l si t obert de Bruce, claimed the crown of ot and as son I l Da E H of sabe la, second daughter of vid, arl of unt in don dau h g ; but Baliol , grandson of Margaret, eldest g ” ter, was preferred . At B an n ockbum 2 1 1 , June 4 , 3 4 , Bruce routed the army E II of dward , secured the independence of S cotland and c l g firmed his own tit e to the throne . The chief author of S cottish independence [King R e r His e o . ob rt, the Bruc ] barely survived his w k last years had been spent chiefly at the Castle of Cardross ;

and the conduct of war, as well as the negotiations a R for pe ce , had been left to the young leaders , andolph D ’ and ouglas, whose training was one of Bruce s services ” r to his count y . It R F R Lo will be seen that obert itz andolph, rd of s Middleham, was grand on to the renowned head of the an d n ot Bruce family, that, only in the veins of the British F z R royal family , but also in the veins of the it andolphs of New Jersey ( descendants of Robert Fitz Randolph of u Middleham) still flows the blood of the Br ces .

40 A S T O R Y O F A T H O US A N D YE A R S

CHAPTE R III

‘ THE FAMI AT D E A A PE I Hfl LY MI DL H M ND AT S N N T iS E . THE KINS HIP To RAVE NS WORTH AND TH E FRIE NDS HIP To WYCLIFFE

It is pr oposed to trace the detailed record of the E n g lish F z Ra the New it ndolph family, which removed to W 1 6 0 e a on orld about the year 3 , and to dwell som wh t c ertain pivotal facts which occurred in Nottinghamshire a o I b ut a hun dred years earlier than the Pilg rimage . am n o t an Am n n who i f rmed hat erica gentlema , has spent much effort in tracin g the history of this Fitz Ra ndolph fa he m r has s i mily, of which hi self is a membe , a certa ned to his own complete satisfaction that the American an d Nottinghamshire line came down directly and distin ctly om L R t F t R of the fr ord ober i z andolph, the builder e Castl of Middleham . I have not had access to his doc a n an d ments, or proofs ; but in pursuing an indepe dent somewhat painstakin g line of research I have been irre si s As tibly led to a like conclusion . to the reasonableness s of thi s con clu ion the reade r is invited to judge . O r Am f rs u erican orebea , adopting cordially the broad do n a a s te ctri e of hum n e uality , have m de mall insis nce q — on descent from n oble families whose claims and views would have disallowed the democratic faith of their pos

41 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

ri te t . y Moreover, the conditions of life into which the Pilgrim of the seventeenth century came were hard an d H engrossing. e and those who came after him for a cen tury or more took scant interest in recurring to themes ' i Yet no longer practical and hardly congen al . through F R o a all this , and adown the itz andolph generati ns, ran sentiment and a tradition going back to Langton Hall th and to the Castle of Middleham, and to e ancient lead an a a ers of Normandy d Brittany . Occ sion lly as public e journalism progressed, a printed article would app ar It bea ring along this tradition . has been an agreeable n diversio to the writer, after half a century of struggling m t with practical and im inent duties, to trace his tradition to its early sources . I am convinced that the family which lived in Notting hamshire in the sixteenth century and in the early part of the seventeenth century, and which then emigrated to Pis Massachusetts, and almost forty years later settled at ca awa n n New its t y ear the easter coast of Jersey, had origin i n the kinship associated with the great E a rl Alan and his brothers whom I have mentioned ( sons of E udo ma fam of B rittany) and y . in common with many great ilies in E urope claim as their ancestor the redoubtable L ord of Middleham . The possibilities of the precise lines of descent from ’ A n E o lan s brothers , so s of udo, at first appear s mewhat Th F z R an d . e e various name it andolph, us d every now then as a family name for successive generations, appears amon gst ancient writin gs and registers in various though l n d not in many p acesn a always apparently derived from,

an d ref eifce l . having er to, this particu ar group

42 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

Notable examples are found in the very important book b L 1 2 a an d pu lished in ondon in the year 7 2 by Roger G le, n R e istrum Hon i The m e titled g oris de R chmon d. aterial L cO ious xt f of this book is chiefly atin, with p e racts rom “ ” D s omesday, and with interesting historical note in “ ” “ F Its x oh ancient (or Norman) rench . appendi and ” servation s th n , which comprise more than half of e sple of u c did volume abo t four hundred pages, are of spe ial value to us in these family researches . At page 247 we have an outline of descent of th e Spennithorn e line of Fitz Randolphs extending through a period of upwards of three hundred years—Spenni thorne being on the other side of the river Yore from u Middleham, and contig ous thereto, and for many gen eration s The l the seat of a division of this family. out ine “ ” Robertus D here begins with , ominus de Middleham Helewisa who , as has already been noted, married de Th Glanville ( or Glenville) and had three sons . e oldest t Walran n us of hese, , died without issue, leaving to the ul His Ran hus L . second son, p , the ordship progeny mar has the f ried , as been seen, into power ul family of the Nevilles and later on carried along the proprietorship of the Castle of Middleham into the royal family of E n g

a . The third Radul hus in l nd son was p ; but, as Gale us he R an ul hus forms , is in the record always called p . The line as sketched by Gale will be found on following page . This outline is interesting an d suggestive to one bent on in com genealogical research, though it is confessedly lete p , not only as to marriages but also as to progeny particularly between the periods of E dward II an d E d

43

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

family, endowed with an inheritance of considerable se c wealth, increa d in importan e there for many years ,

until finally, through the death of male heirs, the property ” went with the daughters to others . T th e aking another line of research, we find following ’ “ ” mention made ( also in Gale s Registrum ) of Henry Fitz Randolph and of his son Hugh “ Henry Fitz Ra ndolf cy desoulx estoit tres noble morust an L II del Baron, en I de grace Mil c c X Ro H LI en sevel regne de y enry tierce X X , est y a Jore x E t A en sevel c mit re vaul . dam son frere est y en la y e ” Le ill ues hors de glise eoq . “ Ycesti H F H n R ugh itz e ry, frere heir de andolf desoulx i R morust escript, q andolf sanz issue de son lerita e Ra corps, succeda en g apres ndolf son frere , morust B erewik T Ian le a sur ese de grace Mil c c c iiii , iiii Ides du Marce 8: du Regne lo Roy E dward primier xxi i tost apres 1a siege gaigne del Chastel du S tryvelyn en E scoce fuit en sevely a Rumald-kirk le xi kalen des D Priour Gisebur h sa Al avril, par John de g femme morust H T or va x brede a urworth sur ese , fuit a J e u en sevely joust Mon sire Henry Fitz Randolf pier du dit ” l l n F Hugh e viii ka e des de ever lan de grace Mil ccc ii . It will be noted that the ancient record is here found to T have been kept in (old) French . his has for con ven ien ce been rendered into E nglish by th e writer of this o o bo k, as foll ws “ Henry Fitz Ran dolf here mentioned was a very noble in 1 262 e n lord and died the year of grace , and of the r ig H r III th an d ervaulx of King en y , the 49 , is buried at J

46

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

Ab An d A e bey. dam, his brother, is buried in the c me ter y outside of the church there .

“ ‘ T H F H an dolf his ugh itz enry, brother and heir of Rs here below written (which Randolph died without issue o Ran of his b dy) , succeeded to the inheritance after -on -T dolph, his brother, and died at Berwick ees in the 1 0 — th I an d year of grace 3 4 the 4 of the des of March, 22d E F in the year of the reign of King dward the irst, soon after the siege and capture of S terling Castle in S l R - cot and, and was buried at omald Kirk, the eleventh A P of the calends of pril, by John, rior of Guisborough, an d A H r rt -on -T his wife, lbreda, died at u wo h ees , and ervaulx Mon si re H F was buried at J , close to enry itz R H 8 andolph, father of the said ugh, on the th of the calen ds of February in the year of grace It is doubtless this Henry Fitz Randolph to whom the “ ” author of Romantic Richmon dshire refers in writing e aulx A of the fascinating remains of J rv bbey, five miles from Middleham—“ Here is a much mutilated effigy of k - hearin s a night in link mail, which, from the armorial g t on the shield, has hi herto been regarded as a memorial H h H 1 2 t Lo F . to enry, 4 rd itz ugh, who died in 4 4 But

from the character of the sculpture this is impossible . The monument is more than 1 00 years older than this n d F date, a in all probability represents one of the itz ” R n F H Th a ul h s . e p , ancestors of the itz ughs writer has seen this effigy and sorrowed over its exposure and ruin . We then further ascertain by a study of the material “ ” furnished in this interesting and valuable Registra m that the father of this Henry Fitz Randolph married Al A S ice, daughter and heiress to dam of tanely, Baron,

47 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

who in no e r sin a a was descended a bl line, comp i g h lf e r Da Cos atrick dozen g ne ations , from the great ne, p , mentioned as a brave and distinguished leader by Hume n d who as at on e and S cott and other historians , a w o an time an ally, but for the m st part was enemy of r n th s the g eat Con quering William of Normandy . I i Cos atrick oc n o an mon s same line of p curs w d then , a g t D R In nd o . o a ther anish names, that of auf this line als ( A i h r R h near of kinship to l c e, w o mar ied andolp , the of H F R A a T b father enry itz andolph ) , was d m of hores y, “ S Mon siere R f who married ibille , daughter of andol ” F R o F wn the itz andolf of S pennith rne . ollowing do H F Ra had line of enry itz ndolph, we find that he one R o son son, andolf, who died without issue , and one ther , ’ T n H A r a. o ugh , whose wife s name was lb ed heir ly son was H E ve Mon siere enry, who married , the daughter of t o Bulmer. Only one son of theirs is men i ned ( also of e H a oan or a the nam of enry) , who m rried J , Joh nne, r daughter and heiress of the Chevalier Richard Fou n eux . T t o s on e om a hey in turn had w son , only of wh appe rs to “ ” n have married ; he , too , marrying a Joan or Joha ne, “ daughter o f Mon siere Henry Le S croope de Mashan . T R a on e men his , in the egistr m , appears to be of the i n in s S e o t o g of the great lordship of crop , wh se participa tion in the history of the northern E nglish counties had A e r e of become so important . still a lier clos alliance these two great kinships ( comin g down from E udo and his brave sons) is mentioned thus by the author of R0 —“ mantic Ri chmon dshi re In the reign of E dward I th e S ir e ff le S the Burton estate belonged to G o rey crope, s Th famous Chief Justice of Ma ham. e estate descen ded

48 A S T O R Y O F A T H O US A N D Y E A R S to Ralph F itz Randolph of S pen nithorne by his marriage E o- s to lizabeth, one of the three daughters, and c heires , T L ” of homas, ord S crope of Masham . This later Henry and Joan had also a son who died n H an d without issue, and still a other enry who survived E married lizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Mar o * Th H mi n and S t. Quintin . e children of enry and f E lizabeth were exceptionally numerous . O these some the died young. On e appears to have been drowned in H n e R river umber . O , auf, went abroad and died in France ; and it seems to be impossible to follow with certainty their various threads of descent (even Gale’ s lines concerning them are scanty and manifestly in com lete p ) but among them was one William , who married f illou h S t. o W Margie, daughter of the noble William g ea by, and these app r to have had several children, amongst whom was a later Henry .

Richmon dshire is full of pleasan t and inviting bypaths —all having relation to the old Roman hi ghway that ran An d F Ran through Middleham . so the student of itz dolph genealogy can hardly avoid turning aside now and then into some enticing vale of thought or research ’ In closely allied with his own theme . S peight s charm “ ” Richm n dshire ing book entitled Romantic o , in the Hi swell chapter concerning p , he writes as follows “ Proceeding from Colburn in the direction of Catterick Bridge you pass the site of another old-time hospital with

“ The m m h ca i a c r S t. n n c e i s n m r t e fa ily of i tin re eiv d t a e f o t l of Pi a dy, r n ce an d a en e illiam the n e r r on hi s i n v on E n n . F a , tt d d Co qu o of la d R m n c Ri c hmon dshi re Am n th e n s se as was ( o a ti , p . o g k ight who c mm n e Ki n r S n n i n Vida Rot. S c . o a d d by Edwa d III was Will t. i t ( ot ,

1 2 Ed. 8d . 5 29 Hi s efi i s i n rn c r s i r e. th , p gy Ho by Yo k h 49 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

chapel, which is said by Clarkson to have been founded b H F L R y enry itz Ra ndolph, ord of avensworth, in the time of Henry III ; but as the arms of Marmion are on a b the hospit l seal, it is not unlikely that some mem er of ” that family was the true founder . We have seen that a descendant of Lord Henry Fitz R n E a dolph married lizabeth , the sole heiress of the fam

ily of Marmion , and it is not unlikely that this is the solu i the . t on of difficulty suggested by Mr . Speight

Immediately in the neighborhood indicated in the a Hi s ell Y above quot tion, at p w , orkshire, and within a R short distance of the frowning Keep of ichmond, was 1 20 W e born about the year 3 the great reformer, John y lifie , whose lineage was also of the ancient family cele “ ” r ted S H b a by cott in Marmion . e it was who trans E 1 lated the Bible into nglish about the year 380, and whose preaching against the doctrine of tran substan tia m tion and in favor of a si ple religion, binding man to his

Maker without need of priestly mediation or sacraments, struck the highest note of clear protest against the pre latical l e on e ru e of mediaeval tim s, and the which really constituted the keynote of the progressive reformation that struggled toward success in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . In two other respects do the work and record of John ff Wycli e find suitable mention in this historic outline, and these additional reasons for reference to the great Re — former consist in two friendships of his the on e with the brave and powerful John of Gaunt, whose blood and descent commingle through the following ages with those

50

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

F R o of the itz andolph line, and the ther friendship being * A A R F R . that of the rchbishop of rmagh, ichard itz alph T F R his itz alph , in some of the earlier records called R R S t. P I . ichard, was rimate of all reland eference is made to him in an interesting book first printed in folio E 1 01 —a has in xeter in 7 , copy of which the publication 1 o E date of 8 1 0 . Th e writer f und in a library of xeter ( of the institution opposite the cathedral) a book called D ”— Worthies of evon, the author being one John He F Prince, Vicar of Berry Pomeroy. says that this itz “ ” l hi ' The Ralph was called by some Richardus Radu p . 1 “ author goes on to say I find the family of Fitz Rallfe to have flourished in these parts from the Norman Conquest T down to the days of King E dward I . hey anciently called themselves Ralph the son of Ralph— the same as Fitz Ralp The author of this biographical sketch of the Arch bishop goes on to narrate the circumstance of the educa of O tion his hero at xford, and the conduct of a campaign of o by him courageous opp sition to the mendicant friars , and to set forth the persecution which resulted from these A events . The rchbishop presented his argument before

“ A thi rd fri en dship might also i n thi s con n ection agai n be men tion ed n me c subsmted e ween n cli fie an d o r en r a ly, that whi h b t Joh W L d H y erc r North umberl an d r ec e clifie en ci e e re P y, Ea l of , who p ot t d y wh t d b fo ’ the rc s . em e esc en s n e r A hbi hop at S t Paul s. A f al d dan t of thi obl Ea l marr ied a desc en dan t of th e an c ien t Fitz Ran dolph n ame] th e father of th e rs a r estm re n an d th e er c bl oo c me oubl n fi t E l of W o la d, P y a y dow to h r t e Fitz Ran dolphs of Tudor times an d late .

tRichard was a favori te n ame amon gst th e descen dan ts of Akary Fitz ’ ’ B ar dol as e rs i n r e s s. W cl i fie s n s r r ma h, app a Gale s elabo at d li t y i t ucto y easi l ave e en on e ese an d s r e e th e o r R en s b of th , thu lat d to L d of av r seems h robable h e esce n e r m r son of wo t t hig ly that d d d f o Ba dolph, I o con si er abl e m an d rece e r e r e r i es Eudo, who had a fa il who iv d la g p op t r m hi s r er i n en the st-n me en in mon s ic re i re~ f o b oth Bod , wh a d w t to a t t ’ men S t M r s r . t at . a y , Yo k 5 1 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

P I I ope nnocent V , but, as the author says, he found the —‘ ’ a proverb true reason does not alw ys rule the roast . We learn from other sources that Wycliffe had per son ally received in his youth the instruction of this R F Ra F R A ichard itz lph , or itz andolph, rchbishop of A e rmagh, and had adopt d , largely as a result of such

e instruction, the simple and int nse faith which he held and preached, particularly as to the right of the individual o its soul to h ld communion with Maker, untrammeled by the interference of priest or friar . A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

CHAPTE R IV

S FT NG NAM ES AND RELA S S AND S R I I TION HIP , CON IDE ING — NORMAN CHARACTER ITS RELIGIOUS PREDILE C TIONs AND I N S PR U O TS OBLE T OD CTI N, GEORGE WAS HINGTON

T en he family lines in E ngland, whose record we are deavorin g to follow, is beset with fewer doubts because of the relative infrequency of the recurrence of the name . In The name has never been of wide use in E nglish life . the United S tates there are to-day man y more Randolphs and Fitz Randolphs than there ever were in E ngland . E xamination of authorities found in the Bodleian Library at Oxford shows that Randolph was once a distinguished I name in that university town . t still attaches to a rep n b O ta le hostelry of xford, by which it was adopted from a on e respect to two highly educ ted gentlemen , of whom D was there a professor of Greek and of ivinity, and the other ( his father) was president of a college . This family of Oxford distinction was for many gen eration s E domiciled in Kent, and produced in ngland several men of learning and repute ; and it was from the same family that the Randolphs of Virginia became an offshoot in the seventeenth century .

53 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

In the history of the old city of Chester the name ap pears amongst the heroic leaders and rulers of that fa Th mous burg . e name is found now and then in the lists Io n don N of mayors of great cities ( h ottingham and b others) , and also in the lists of ishops of some of the great cathedrals . Sometimes it is in the more ancient Ra ul Ran ul h R lists in the single form of d ph, or p , or alph, o and again it will be found ass ciated with some surname, n r or with another name prefixed . I each case it appea s N to stand as an indication of a Norman or orse lineage, i and is more or less traceable to S candinavian orig n . Th F R in e itz andolphs are, E ngland, fewer than the

Ra . I fin d ndolphs ndeed, it is now scarcely possible to there any representatives of the former name ; an d al though it is probable that in the earlier centuries the re lation ship between them was a close on e ( all the original Ra ndolphs and Fitz Randolphs being Normans or Norse F Ra t men) still the line, or lines , of itz ndolphs cons itute an d i a distinct subject and study, the particular l ne of which this paper treats appears to have been continuous by itself in the Old World and the New for more than seven hundred years . It has been seen that in Yorkshire the descent of the Lord of Middleham and of the Lord of Raven sworth ia tertwin ed c at certain points , and that both bran hes came - E down from the before mentioned sons of udo . Mention is made by Dugdale and by Banks ( in their books on the E n glish baronages) of a certain Robert Fitz R R F Ran ul h f andolph (or obert itz p ) , who was Lord o A u N Mamhan i freto , orton , and , in the t me of Ki ng e II sheriff o H nry , and who was of the counties f Not

54 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

tin ham D 1 2 1 1 1 th a g and erby of the th , 3th, 4th, s , and h lf 1 6 ’ of the th year of that king s reign . ’ The same character is mentioned also in B lackner s H N istory of ottingham ; and Blackner, quoting from T o t s 1 2th h ro on, allude to the year of the reign of King “ H II 1 th enry , and also to the s year ; in both which ” “ Ro F Ran ul h was years the author writes, bert itz p

It is intimated by one of these early writers (the later emn o i h se i gly qu ting from the earlier, and w t out show of i H ff Lo R Ran ev dence) that this igh S heri , rd obert Fitz L F - T dolph , was concerned with ords itz Urse, racy,

Briton, and Morville, in the conspiracy which led to the T It death of homas a Becket . is not charged that the High Sheriff actually pa rticipated in what these early “ ” writers called the murther ; but they intimate that he filled the place which S aul filled at the stoning of S tephen — that he stood by and consented ; and they say he after l ward was obliged to pay certain re igious penalties, or a un te undergo certain pen nces, as a result of giving co h o nance to t e death f a Becket .

“ ’ Re er r n c a cr e i s r o t n am A en i a e 448 f i g to Bla k H to y of N t i gh pp d x, p g , ’ h r r m Th oroto hi r f we fin d that t e autho quotes f o Dr . p s storical desc ipti on o the r es S h i rewood as s en hi s res Shi re wood was Fo t of , follow “Wh t fo t of

rs m e, fin d n ot ; th e r s men i n d fin d i s in en ry the fi t ad . fi t t o of it o . . I I H ’ S econ s me c n ce e i t re s e re for i i m e ere in d ti . but I o iv a fo t b fo , W ll a P v ll the fir st year of Hen ry the S econ d ( which i s mi staken for the fifth year of h n lacm F orestae seems Ki n S te en doth a swer de P s in th is coun ty . It be e ol e r an d c mm n s res for hi s e st e c ad w p ofit o a d of thi fo t at , whi h

m n th e cr n th e sh eri ff 8. . i n th e cc n h i s rm after co i g to ow , ( H a ou t of fa prays to be discharged of £ 4 i n vasto F or estal ; an d in the ten th year of ’ the s me n g s rei h e pr ys th e e i sc ar e £ 4 for th e as e. as a ki a lik d h g . of w t

n ce 6 5 8 . th e c n s e ei res e rs an d war also allowa of paid to o tabl , ght fo t a r en er an d to th e can n n s S hi rewood for ms £ 40 c I c n c e e , o of al whi h o iv to

e th e ri r an d m n s Newatede en n e n de en r . In b p o o k of , th wly fou d by H y II h e ear h e sh eri fi the c n Ran dul hus fil i us E n al rami an t e n xt y t of ou ty , p g , swers de cen su F orestae an d i n th e el ear R er de z r of ; tw fth v ob t Cat , Lo d

f r or f £ 20 an d 5 . H. 8. i ldus de ci a n a e m an s ers or it. Re n a L xto , , w , ( g Lu wer the i e sum £ 20 ro c en s F orestae t h c ears an s s l k of p u , bo h w i h y i z Ran h fi Robert F t ulp was sh eri . SS F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

The Fitz Randolphs were always intensely in earnest The in whatever cause they espoused . strain of con troversy and antipathy between Henry II and Thomas a The al Becket was very intense and bitter . nation was most torn apart in the course of the great issue then made between kingly and constitutional rule on the on e hand and prelatical control on the other. At the basis of the character of the S candinavian ad e T venturers was a fearless aggr ssiveness . hey were sel dom content with the results of conquest, but were ever e H m pressing on to furth r acquisitions . u anitarianism in the broad sense, as we know and seek to cultivate it, was l an to them scarce y known . Mercy d kindness as personal duties were seldom in their thoughts ; yet they were not o dev id of a certain moral principle and aim, and they appeared to believe that the world was to be reformed o through their c nquest and dominion . With the accept C R R ance of hristianity by the great olf, or alph , who t D N m en became the firs uke of or andy, a new element ’ a the N It ter d into orseman s mind and plan . may not have included much of the gentleness and self-denial in culcated Na by the zarene, but it served to broaden the l e mind and en arge the purpos of the fierce Norseman . It assisted also in the development of a respect for order ’ t la and for law, even hough the w was of the adventurers own It making. thus came about, by the fusion of these ff widely di erent elements in character, that the leaders of No a o the rth, having the force and cour ge to c nquer, had also the ability to administer upon what they had con quered . In x N E . A F an e cellent article on the ormans by . ree

56

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

S candinavian forefathers ; but it seems quite as probable that this important influence which came in to qualify Norseman aggressiveness and lawlessness was due to the acceptance of such Christian prin ciples as these brave m and fierce en could grasp and appreciate . Certain it is that in sin gular unity with the savage de sires and purposes of power was a recognition of a Divine e d P F pow r and of the uty of worship . rofessor reeman “ : The N says orman, a strict observer of forms in all to the of i o ith matters, attended forms relig n w special N a care . o people were more bountiful to ecclesiastic l bodies on both sides of the Channel ; the foundation of en n e the a B edictine mo ast ry in eleventh century, of a Cis t o tercian monastery in the twelf h, seemed alm st a matter o The of course on the part of a Norman bar n . Con ueror q , beyond doubt, sincerely aimed at being a religious

reformer, both in his duchy and in his kingdom On the other hand, none were less inclined to submit to a encroachments on the part of the ecclesiastic l power, the Conqueror himself least of T hese kinsmen and lieutenants of the Conqueror, whose families and lines of descent enter into the subject of this o en b ok, bore a generous part in the establishment and i e an d The dowment of relig ous nterprises institutions .

“ me c n s ders h th e es de ressi on man ig n ran ce an d Hu o i t at . low t of hu o de rad ati on between th e culmin atio n of oman Civilization on th e on e han d “ an th e r e ival e r n n c cc m n e th n r c n th e art v . of l a i g , whi h a o pa i d e i t odu tio of h er was th e in c i m he rm n e a r n n on . t e t n of p i ti g oth , po t at whi h W llia No a b g hi s won der fuLp ar eer On p e 87 2 th e rs me his s ry h e : . ag of fi t o of hi to “ volu wr ites Th e period i n which th e people of Chr iste n dom wer e th e lowest s n i n n r ce an d con se uen tl i n s r er s e e r n ma s u k ig o an , g di o d of v y ki d, y ju tly ‘ be xe th e e even c en u th e ge m th e n er r , fi d at l th tu a o t a . of Willia Co qu o an d r m t . er th s u n 0 sc en ce e i n n n re sc en re f o tha a e. i , b g i g to a d, th w out m n y e ms i h c prece e the u m rn n en e ters ere a of l g t, whi h ” d d f ll o i g wh l t w r evive(fli na the fifteen th c en tury. 58 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S earlier of the Fitz Randolphs were amongst the knights Al in of the Crusades . l the sons of E udo and those who h erited from them were benefactors to the church and ’ the t A Y to monasteries . S . Mary s bbey at ork, the Grey F R m er aulx E riars at ich ond, and J v and asby and Cover A T o S e s ham bbeys , and h ralby and pennithorn churche a and m ny other institutions of like character, received large gifts at their hands . The Abbey which was final ly loc ated at Cove rham was S Y 1 1 0 originally founded at wainby, orkshire, in 9 , by

Ro F z R n L e the wife of bert it a dolph, ord of Middl ham, and it was in that same year that he began the erection of In 1 2 1 th was the Castle at Middleham. 5 e establishment o in transferred to C verham, and there cont ued until the D H III a issolution by enry V , though it is s id to have been meanwhile subject from time to time to S cottish o depredati ns and injuries . At Coverham we find several effigi es in stone of an “ Th Rom R interesting character . e author of antic ich ” mon dshire writes of them as follows : They are of the e l surcoat p riod, sculptured in crusading panop y of the H II E II T e mu time of enry I to dward . h y are much

s r a —two til ted, but are wo thy of the best care of them being probably the oldest sculptures of their kind extant T I Y . n in orkshire here can , thi k, be little doubt that Ran ul h F R one represents the powerful p itz obert, who a a S tr nsl ted the monks of wainby to Coverham in 1 2 1 5 . ’ He was great-grandnephew of the Conqueror s kinsman E a A Lo Richmon dshire rl lan, first rd of after the Con H an 1 2 1 . e quest, d died in 5 was interred with great pomp in the Chapter House at Coverham. along with his

59 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

' B B EY E i Pi G i E s, A A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

mother, whose remains had been brought hither from

S 1 1 . wainby, where they had lain since her death in 95 — Another efli gy ( a mere torso a ruthless destruction due perhaps to the S cottish raid on Coverham after Bannock 1 1 R F Ran ul h burn in 3 4) may represent his son, alph itz p , co- e founder, or founder, of the monastery of the Gr y F i R o 1 2 0 r ars at ichm nd, who died in 7 , and whose heart was buried in the church of the Grey Friars and his ” bones at Coverham . ’ “ Whellan s History and Topography sums up this e efli ies record, and the conjectur concerning these g , as “ o : In the n E e f llows reig of dward, the Conf ssor, Middle The hil tric D . ham was a manor belonging to G pa , a ane N r o o man Conquest left it a waste, and in that conditi n it A E a was when llen , arl of Britt ny, who had a grant of Richm n hi r e o ds e from the Conqu ror, gave it to his brother R T R N r L ibald . his ibald, the first o man ord of Middle Y d A God St. o an ham, gave to and Mary at rk, the bbot Gosfrid x , in perpetual alms for the soul of Beatri , his wife ( daughter of Ivo de Tallabois by the Countess Lucy L E l E of incoln, the sister of ar Morcar) , and that of arl * Allen [Alan] five carucates of land in B um iston ; and after the death of his wife he became a monk in the said A t S . . bbey of Mary By his wife , Beatrix , he had a son Ra r Fa lbois E lph, su named y ; to him, arl S tephen , his L R uncle ( ord of the honour of ichmond) , by his Charter the D and delivery of a anish hatchet, confirmed Middle R ham, and all the lands which ibald, his father, possessed A at the time he became a monk . By his wife, gatha, R ru S daughter of obert de B s of kelton, he had a son,

“ fi e n r cr About v hu d ed a es. 61 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

R F z-Ran ul h F R obert, surnamed it p or itz andolph , to E Ri e whom Conan , arl of chmond, gave the for st of o T R o . Wensleydale , with c mm n pasture his obert, in 1 1 0 the 9 , commenced erection of the Castle of Middle A a o Helewi sa ham . fter his de th, his wid w , , daughter * s H II R of the famous ju ticiary of enry , alph de Glanville, o of P II by auth rity a bull granted by ope Clement , o s S a f unded a mona tery of white canons at wainby, ne r

Pi kh ll h 1 1 S a . c a . S e died in 95, and was buried at w inby Her R an ul h F R Ran ul us Lo son , p itz obert, or p , rd of o S to C e Middleham, translated the m nks of wainby ov r a 1 2 1 ham, near Middleh m , in 4 , and conferred on them o the Church f Coverham an d many lands and tenements . He also had the bones of his mothe r brought from e Swainby and buri d in the chapter house at Coverham . He 1 2 1 died in 5 , and was buried at Coverham ; and the effi i es more rigid of the g , still preserved there, is sup

posed to represent him . R F Ra was e alph itz ndolph, his son, the found r, or one th F R of e founders, of the riars Minor at ichmond .

A rich and elegant figure at Coverham is conjectured n hi . s A a as to belo g to him By wife , n st ia, daughter of m Lo P an Willia , rd ercy, he had a daughter d heiress , ” l r of wh R Maria, ca led Ma y Middleham, o married obert

“ Th the re de n e i n h i re i n e i z Ran h s e blood of at Gla vill t e en t l of F t dol , r m the s n s R0 e rt z R n r e m an d for f o o of Fit a dolph, Lo d of Middl ha , ully e en c en r es e s S n ce s n n i s ese r n m re n ss s v tu i lap ing i thi u io , d vi g of o tha a pa i n n ce . As a s er r s an d e er men m n an d o er g oti oldi , a ju i t a l ad of of i d p w , h e ssesse e ce n i m es. was he for e e po d x ptio ally i h qual ti t , xa pl , who took . I ri son er th e S c c n illi am th e n A n c i n 1 1 7 4 an d s ot h Ki g Lio , at l wi k , thu por the first time S cotlan d an d th e S c ottish church was brought un de r sub . .

ec ti on n n . E n c c ri . XXI 484. j to E gla d y . B t , 62 OVE R HA AB B E Y C M .

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

brated F P General George Washington, irst resident of U S a A the nited t tes of merica, who was descended from L Lan eonard Washington of Warton, county of caster whose son Laurence emigrated to America ’ 1 6 L in 59 and settled in Virginia . eonard s ancestor was R r n L obe t Washi gton, ord of Milbourne, county of West o H III m reland, of the time of enry , whose descent is H on Lo - traced by arris to Bonde , rd of Washington Juxta R A a fil i avensworth, to whom his father, k ry Bardul , L R n ord of ave sworth, gave the manor of Washington in the time of King Two facts of some interest here appear : one is that R r o L r obe t Washingt n , ord of Milbou ne, Westmoreland, H F R Lo R and enry itz andolph , rd of avensworth, were cotemporaries of the pe riod of Henry III ; the other fact is that they were both descended from one member ( Bar

‘ dolf) of the already mentioned band of brothers, sons E o of ud , connections of William the Conqueror ; and to him reference has already been made as the ancestor of Lo rd Henry Fitz Randolph ; and it also appears that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Henry Fitz Randolph and his descendants held the same lordship of R l th avensworth, which had been held in the twe f cen tury by his progenitor who was also the progenitor of a t A B ardulf W shing on, namely, kary, the son of or i Bardulph, or Bardol .

“ h - e ri n 3 r r t e c r e lan d rec r , th e time i n en ry Gal b fo wa d ud . o d of of K g H

s u ass n ton : S n 4 c rn e . er r e u arum Ran ul h u III , thu y g u t ibi a t a , q p fili us en r ci en e 2 Rog er us en e s 2 dc Ka goue fil i o en ri ci , an H i t t t ”t alia H Hug o de Comite Come s de Rege . ‘ ” r i s b e ia i n for caru cate—as m c an as c l be c l i Ca uc. a br v t o u h l d ou d u t “ vated on e s n re c es : s 4 acres by plow, u uall a hu d d a r thu y .

r im e . The n ri e acc r n sod an s n app ox at ly qua tity va d o di g to d hu ba dry. 64 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

CHAPTE R V

MIDDLEH AM CASTLE AND S OM E OF ITS OCCUPANTS

The localities just named (namely, the home of the F R B ardulf an d itz andolphs , descended from , the birth of ff are h place the reformer, Wycli e) wit in an easy a Y morning walk of Middleh m in orkshire, where still stands the magnificent ruin of the castle built more than L R r F R seven centuries ago by ord obe t itz andolph , the R who the of i grandson of ibald, was brother Bardul and A of lan . This castle was built somewhat later than the reign S o A of King tephen (whose m ther, dela, was a daughter the l n of William Conqueror, as was a so Consta tia the wife of Alan) but the rage for building castles by the ’ n nobility was we ll under way during King S tephen s reig . In order to conciliate the barons who rema ined true to him in his numerous and desperate quarrels with various S to parties and powers, tephen allowed them build castles —e ec o ach of which b ame a center of power, and s metimes H e of tyranny . undreds of castl s were built during his e n an d r H r ig the eigns of the earliest enrys . Man y of

“ — S ome hi storian s say of Alan Rufus first E arl of Richmon d others say i] Fer an t son oe . a e s th e e r n n of Alan g , of H l G l old to latt opi io . 65 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

i A these have pract cally disappeared . few have in later o r days been converted into bar nial esidences, and many more fell into ruin in the course of feudal wars and of the i of S o consolidat on kingly power . till thers were ren dered untenable during the brie f but strenuous period of Cromw lliad To at the e . this last destructive potency is on tributed the present conditi of Middleham Castle, though the circumstances attending its partial demolition n The as are but vaguely k own . C tle was, however, of such huge bulk and immense original strength and stout ff It ness as to resist all e orts to destroy it utterly . is, r n the efore, still, now, even in its existi g condition of on of o ruin, e the most pr minent and most interesting exem lification s ae l a - p of medi va c stle building . “ As A i s a specimen of rchitecture, Middleham Castle ” “ a he a unique but not a happy work , says Whit ker . T Nor r L n o man keep, the fort ess of the first ords, t being sufficient for the vast trains and princely habits of the ’ N e r evilles, was nclosed, at no long pe iod before Leland s n h time , by a complete quadra gle , whic almost entirely darkened what was dark enough before ; and the first structure now stands completely isolated in the center of n of a later work no very ample dimensio s within, and I nearly as high as itself . must, however, suppose that the original keep was surrounded by a bailey occupying u nearly the space of the present quadrang lar work . “ Within the original building are the remains of a magnificent hall an d chapel ; but it might be difficult to pron ounce whether the first or the second work consists o - of the more massive and indiss luble grout work . “ The ruins of this once magn ificent castle are exten 66

F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

The sive an d interestin g. best view of them is from the

of . southwest . Most of the walls are still great height

The large gateway on the north side is quite perfect, and consists of a circular arch constructed under a pointed

E A . one, similar to those of the gateway of asby bbey “ The chapel may be distinctly traced ; but broken frag ments of the walls and rubbish have accumulated from the height of from six to ten feet above the original A o floors . few years ago, a porti n of the moat remained ” on the south side of the castle . Vari ous writers have held it as strongly probable that William the Con queror from time to time visited Middle S e ham . uch visits, how ver, must have been made more than a century prior to the commencement of the castle R o It s R by Robert Fitz and lph . is al o said that ibald, R - the grandfather of obert the Castle builder, spent much d r He e L time here an he eabouts . c rtainly was ord of It for Middleham . remained, however, a later age and for those who followe d these notable personages to render most famous this center of duca l power and am bitiou .

A . . . little more than fifty years ago , Mr . W G M Jones h e Barker, a writer of merit, and a devout Cat olic, wrot H o ri a ist ry of Wensleydale , in which he summa zes thus a part of the history we are considering “ William had bestowed the domains of murdered E d S E a of h a win, axon rl Mercia, of w ich Wensleyd le his l Al R formed part, on fo lower and relative an ufus, F E R mo irst arl of ich nd, who shortly after began to build A the castle at that place . lan gave the manor of Middle

68

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

’ o fl ecti n s t of his d mestic a o a Middleham , which had been t H was o the inheri ance of his wife . e pr bably sojourning at the castle when the news reached him of the death of h 6th r E IV A 1 8 . On t e his b other, dward , in pril, 4 3 of It July following he was crowned at Westminster . was ‘ ’ ’ P a in an apartment since called the rince s Ch mber, in the round tower at the southwest angle of the castle at E r P Middleham, that dwa d, rince of Wales, the much T a R III as o . loved son of ichard , w b rn r dition says that o the little lad, in wh m his father had centered all his a t fondest hopes, met with an inexplic bly suspicious dea h S 1 His at Middleham in the pring of 484 . father and o N m ther were then staying at ottingham, and when the o to sad news was c nveyed them , it is said they gave way a The to the wildest fits of desp ir . king would not be - o comforted, and the queen m ther completely broke down an d T m under the sudden crushing sorrow . hey lost no ti e ‘ to a in repairing to Middleham g ze on the cold, dear o face of their nly loved son, at sight of which, old Croy ‘ e the don, the historian , t lls us, you might have seen ’ f e o e The ather and mother in a stat b rd ring on madness . h mot er never recovered, and died , it is said, of grief,

within twelve months of her son, at the early age of ” - thirty one . Barker quotes the following deta ils from an older — writer Leland : Middleham Castel j oy n eth harde to the e Richm n ir town side, and is the fair st castel of o dsh e, the a te next Bolton, and c s l hath a parke by it, called S on ske cauli ed P , and another West arke, and Gaun less oddi ( Wanlass) be well w d. Middleham is a praty

70

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S AN D Y E A R S

o n e on rokk to market t n , and standeth a y hill , on the p

eo meatl . wher f is the castel, y well diked “ All the utter parte of the castelle was of the very new L N D r n setting of the ord evile, called a abi the i ner part of Middleham Castel was of the ancient buildin g of ” the Fitz Randolph . “ ‘ There be four or five parks about Middleham, and

” ' f wood ed . longing to it, whereo some be reasonably y 1 twe R F z R Meantime , be en the days of obert it andolph and the accession to the crown of his descendant Richard III d e of , Mid l ham Castle saw much of the stir feudal life n f r and co flict . O some part of this, the sto y is told in ’ “ ” A er L on s n The L of the r . Bulw ytt ovel, ast Ba ons central point of interest in this fascin atin g novel is the F R E w itz andolph Castle, a home of the arl of War ick, “ ” whom the novelist calls The Last of the Barons . “ ” h f R an Richm n dshire a T e author o om tic o , ag in “ : The the writing of this castle, says Keep is oldest por tion of the building and was of the foundation of Fitz h r The Randolphs about the end of t e twelfth centu y .

“ The an ti uari an S towe call s Ral h ( the great Earl of West ” “ m re n an R Ne e i n sh ed c s h im r h e n o la d) aby v l . Ho all Dau a L la d ” “ ” as a o e c l s him r Dan abbrevi at Dn ( b v ) a l Da abi . ( still further to was the common ren deri n g of Domin us ( Lor d) e quivalen t to th e S an Don . Lon gstafie i n his r en t e Ri c hmon dshire its an ci en r s ” wo k itl” d “ t o d an d Edifices suggests that Daw may have been the dimin utive of r R n Ralph o a dolf. t i s r rs to e e e th e n us n el n or e n fi ha d at fi t b li v that a ti Joh L a d, L y la d . or La l on de for e some th e z Ran s h e e rs e e y ( , lik of Fit olp , a a to hav k pt on han d a choice assortmen t of n ames of hi s own famppy wr ote th e best

n i s th e ime en r . He was sc r an n s h avm E gl h of t of H y VIII a hola li gui t, g been educated at Oxford un der th e famous grammari an Lily an d havin g r e e m z v c on th e c n n en as e as i n n n . ven Q een t a ll d u h o ti t . E gla d E u Eli w ll ’ abeth spoke bette r Lati n than En glish ; an d whilst Oliver Cromwell s ac ts

e re r m an d e me hi s E n lish r s ere n e an d s . w p o pt w ll ai d, g wo d w i volv d low — . — - Can we won der kn om n g this that if to day on e wishes to read lan d deeds of th e fourteen th to the sixteen th cen tur ies i n En glan d h e must pore over Norman -Fren ch documen ts ; an d i f on e as ir es to be historian or gen ea l o i st an d l e rn the ee s men or ei r descen h e m s r n s e g a of d d of t, u t t a lat rec r s e th er i n L tin o d k pt by e En glish fath s a . 7 1 F I TZ R AND O L P H TR A D I TI O N S

ex terior parts of the castle are fourteenth-century work — built by the Nevilles the whole forming a grand paral lelo ram 2 1 0 1 80 to g feet by feet, flanked by a wer at each I angle . t was encompasse d by a broad and deep moat a o fed by natur l springs, and p rtions of this remained tol erabl 1 8 0 the y perfect up to about 3 , when space was Th o filled up . e gateway of the castle on the n rth side is The t almost perfect . large banque ing hall and the chapel s The the al o remain interesting features . tenacity of m ortar is something to remark upon . It was in this castle that the great E arl of Warwick ( descended from the Fitz Randolphs of Middleham and r Ral R n E e g andson of ph, or a dolph, first arl of W stmore “ ” The i - n land) , known as K ng maker, held high car ival r a r f and fed an a my of fighting ret ine s . O him and his Lo entertainments here , as well as in ndon, Barker quotes “ from an old authority - S ix oxen were eaten at a break e r rn fast and ve y tave was filled of his meet, for he that a a a had any cquaint nce in th t house, he should have as much sodden and roast as he might carry upon a long “ dagger . ; S uch was the lavish hospitality of the Lords of Middle d e a In ham of five hun r d years g o . those days of the “ E a o f a c historic rl W rwi k ( the last of the feudal barons, in o -u a master in camp and c urt, the setter p and plucker

“ ’ S ome of Warwick s close kin ship di splayed ally great l iber ali an d e r n e Th e s th e n s n q e s e r e e e xt ava a c . e d tail of I tallatio a t of G o vill g ’ arw r r as Ar c s r r e en r ge ese ( W mk s b othe ) hbi hop of Yo k a giv by F ou . Th es r s n s n c e e en six l l s u s n s ee ree f tal p ovi io i lud ighty ox , wi d bu l , a tho a d h p, th n re s an d as m n ca es r n re e en s n ree hu d d hog a y lv , fou hu d d h ad of v i o , th s n eese en - ree n re c n s s fl c s e c c s thou a d g , tw ty th hu d d apo , va t o k of p a o k , e n s c r n es r r es e s n s c c s er s c r e s an d pig o , a , pa t idg , ph a a t , wood o k , plov , u l w

s c s ar s r s an d s es ad lib . an d al e ree n re quail , with u t d , ta t pa ti —, of th hu d d tun a an d i n e on e n re an d r n a r n e s E n . . of w hu d d fou tu F o d Hi t. of g , Vol

1 e 5 2. , pag 72 A S T O R Y O F A TH O US A N D YE A R S

” w E as L do n of kings ) the Court of ngland , Bulwer ytton s s pertinently ob erves, was not Wind or, nor S hene, nor m T a West inster, nor the ower, but it was Middleh m in Y orkshire . The Fitz-Ran dolph Ca stle at Middleham was then the home and place of assemblage of mighty men and of ’ dames of E ngland s choicest beauty and of the flower of a all her gall ntry. S n fe the ummi g up a w particulars , we note here (at risk of some repetition) that it was Mary Fitz Ra ndolph ’ Neville s n f R great, g reat, great gra dson (son o alph, or Ra F E ndolph, irst arl of Westmoreland , and of his second a al wife, Jo n Beaufort) who was E a rl of S alisbury ; and S ’ isbur s son T M y by his wife, the heiress of homas de onta * “ ” was T - he . cute, Warwick, King maker When Warwick th e R III died, castle passed to ichard , who, as has been ’ a A A . seen, had m rried Warwick s daughter nne fter H VII e R o enry d feated ichard at the battle f Bosworth, d e T In 1 6 Mid leham rev rted to the udor Crown . 47 , dur ing the time of the Commonwealth, it was dismantled . A th e R II bout time of the estoration of Charles , it was so Lo I 1 2 ld to the City of ndon by the Crown . n 66 , E E s . 1 6 0 he dward Wood, q , bought the castle, and in 7 I 1 o a o . n 88 came into possessi n of the entire m n r 9 , the t ff L whole proper y was purchased by Samuel Cunli e ister, E s . I n . q , at a cost, as am informed , of O Mr Lister was subsequently conferred the title of “ Lord ” a about this time Mash m , and he gave utterance to a clever mot in a speech at a meeting of the Antiquarian ” For h S . t e ociety second time in its history, said he ,

“ r w m the S i s r i e an d ea s e Th ough ho al bu y t tl w lth de cen d d. 73 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

the noble Castle of Middleham is in possession of The La t i L h m s . H s of the Barons son, the later ord Mas a - ss m con sid [pronounced Mas ham, or Ma a ] has shown c an d rate care to the venerable pile, supporting protect e ing the old walls wh rever necessary, and placing an

- honest and intelligent care taker in charge . 3 “ . T D . M . . e Mr W G. J Barker, in his hr e ays in Wens le dale r y , refe ring to the ruins of this fortress, says, “ A ltogether the castle, by historic recollections, is ren dered one of the most interesting in the north of E n g A . s land we pace its deserted courts, or stand within

i a . its roofless walls, imag nation may well rec ll the bygone The — The trumpet sounds the armor clashes . gorgeous *— — E dward the mun ificen t Richard fair Anne of War — s I e — wick her duche s sister, sab lla of Clarence and their — L e . stately sire people these d solate rooms ady, Knight, — Demoiselle and Demoiseau flit past us brilliant p ag ean r A o N t y l n n the scene changes . ight hovers over the The o castle . y ung moon vainly struggles with the dim s— c T cloud tor hes supply her place . here are guards and

— - a prisoner we hear the death axe fall on the unhappy F a - — alconbridge . We st rt from our day dream all are — ff We gone feasters and su erers, nobles and soldiers . ’ are an d standing in a banquet hall deserted, the jackdaw s

‘ E dwar d IV was en tertain ed at th e Castle of Middleham by hi s cousi n h i l s en r e e on e i me t e brave Earl of Warwick . It s a o g e ally beli v d that at t r s n r i n e s e S e sser s th e an d War wick held this ki n g as a p i o e th c a tl . tow a t

S a es c re r es on sim r n es i n en r r r Act 4 . S o h k a w it ila li H y VI , Thi d pa t, M e i n s acc om i sh ed s r c sc r as . . r er . A. p a hi to i al hola G W P oth o, , F llow of K g “ e e am r e r es r se r s er e e e e Coll g , C b idg , w it Edwa d, who t oop w d f at d at Ed ’ c e e n rw c s h n s an d was rem e h i s c s e Midd e ot , f ll i to Wa i k a d ov d to a tl at ’ h am Vi da E n c cl . B ri t XX 882. r c s s r en s e was , y , IV, — Wa wi—k t uou lif lar ge] given to makin g an d un makin g hy turn s Edward IV an d Hen ry i n all h hi s ow n n th e e rn e on as er . ; y e en n i E t VI w t to u do g at battl of . ’ Ba t Da 1 47 1 . er esc r es n R c r s r i c i n i n . y , Bulw d ib you g i ha d pa t i at o that ht A dozen year s later th is youn g Richar d was kin g an d pimself i n possess on he l of t cast e. 74

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

’ crow awakens the echoes instead of the trumpet s sound ! “ Dr . As i c Whitaker says , it is, majest c in de ay, Middle ham an o man in Castle is, as object, the noblest w rk of Ri chmon dshire Th d the county of . e views up an down Wensleydale from the windows of this castle are delight ful and picturesque .

The writer is tempted at this point to brea k in upon his own narrative and to venture to apologize for one who has perhaps in the course of history had too few who apologists, and appears to have been unconscionably R III E am maligned . King ichard , of ngland, was an n r bitio s man who lived in a c uel age . When he died bravely on Bosworth field his own particular line of princes failed . No one was left to speak for him , and H D R his victorious enemy, enry, uke of ichmond, who H II became enry V , established a new dynasty, that of the T one e udors, of whose objects was to asp rse an d destroy d F the character of his predecessor an opponent. riends R an of ichard were speedily cowed d silenced . By the T o R re re udor hist rians and dramatists, i chard was p

- H . sented as a hump backed monster. e never was this Doubtless he was supremely and fiercely bent on accom plishin g his ends ; but he was not more vindictive or cruel h He o re t an other princes . f rgave and stored Stanley, and Stanley ungratefully turn ed against him at the last R * moment in the decisive battle in which ichard fell .

‘ ' i n n n an e A r he l c Reu ibuti on was n ot slow falli g upo S t l y. fte had p a ed on the head of th e first Tudor kin g th e crown of Richar d III' which h e c me fin d on s r e h e was cc se ff r of s a . lai d to Bo wo th fi ld, a u d by Cli o d di loy lty It was shown that h e had made an in discreet remark favorable to th e p re ’ r n r was s en er s s for c n on en r s ar ten der Pe ki Wa beck . It l d ba i a tio H y t ’ r w ri c E en l d but S tan ley was r ich an d Hen as ava ious. O w t S tan ey s Kea ’ ’ — an d n en r s cofier s en §tan l e s ea h me 428. i to H y w t y w lt Hu II. 75 F I TZ R A N D O L P H TR A D I T I O N S

’ The smothering of his brother s sons in the tower was — never proved against Richard though he may have been o He resp nsible for this crime . was courageous , enter e prising and energetic , and was an earn st patron of learn

ing in a day when learning had not yet become popular, E and when princes feared it . ven Bulwer, who follows H to ume in denouncing this king, is compelled own that “ Richard was a protector and promoter of lea rning) He t re was also , according o his day and light, a patron of li i Th f g on . e seal o the church at Middleham ( a copy of which lies before the writer as readopted in Richard’ s o a a hon r by the chapter, or de nery, so late as the ye r 1 742) shows that he established and patronized it as a ’ e r Coll giate Church . Barker says that the king s pu pose to rebuild the church edifice at Middleham was frustrated He by his death . loved this church as he loved his wife and his son an d his castle at Middleham and his York shiremen ; and these Yorkshiremen believed in him abso lutel — d y believe in his bravery, in his truth, and in his o n to right and ability to g ver , and were ever ready follow P o ff h him through any peril . r thero says in e ect t at the ’ story o f Richard s deformity was derived from his en e ’ mies malignity and from a misunderstanding of his n ame “ ” Crouchback ; and that, but for certain other qualities , o a his courage, energy and ability w uld have made him o great and hon red name . ’ Bulwer pays a certain tribute to Richard s morality and

“ “ e r r es in hi s s th e r n s —re err n the i n ven Bulw w it a t of Ba o , f i g to ” L n oi r n n s c m n n use i n th e er r the een t tio i ti g, ju t o i g i to latt pa t of fift h p‘ cen tury Richar d dur in g h is brie f rei n spar ed n o pain s to circ ulate III . ” . “ h h n n i n Goldwm m sa s R c r — B to t e utmost t e i ve t o . ith y of i ha d a statute freely admi ttin books b e marked the ag e an d did credit to im ” — se . Pohtxcal Hi st 01. . 27 4. lf , I, p 76 COPY OF ROYAL G ALLE RY PORTRAIT OF HAR RIC D III .

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

e an d r s st adfastness , to his peculiar and myste iou power, in the scene which he describes as taking place in Middle in r E ham Castle, which he imagines the g eat arl of War in r wick the cou se of conversation with his brother, the A i — at rchbishop, and as say ng whilst they stood looking Richard conversin g with the younger daughter of the — “ ’ mighty E arl He has his father s face ; but yet the boy T is to me a riddle . hat he will be bold in battle and wise in council I foresee ; but would he had more of a young ’ ’ man s follies ! There is a medium between E dward s wantonness and Richard’ s sanctimony and he who in the ’ heyday of youth s blood scowls alike upon sparkling wine and smiling woman may hide in his heart darker and a ! ! I more sinful f ncies . But fie on me will not wrong fully mistrust his father ’ s son !” The Royal Gallery portrait of Richard is far from I being a representation of a brutish character . t is the — portrait of a gentleman o f a character something like that o f the sensitive and thoughtful Hamlet of Shakes ’ ’ R an d peare s play . ichard s life example may not be on e the whole one worthy of comm ndation to posterity, but he need not (to use a mediaeval word) be held up as a “ ” scarebabe ; and history should be fair even when written of H II under such inspiration as that enry V , whose mis demeanors and meannesses and cruelties far outnumbered

o f l R R . those any son of Cice y, the ose of aby La ck of space forbids dwelling upon the interesting Ak lda St. e old church of , at Middleham , in which the apparently severe and cruel Richard III was so deeply in terested - d , and in whose parish house in later ays the n e It en beloved Canon Ki gsley liv d and wrote . was 77 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

Ra N - dowed with glebe lands by lph eville, great grand

son of R F R L of . obert itz andolph, ord Middleham We have seen that Richard III constituted Middleham Church to a collegiate church, and granted lands endow it ; but f H on his defeat and death at the battle o Bosworth, enry he VII seized the church lands as well as t castle ; so, e f R having nothing to los at the time o the eformation, as the honorary Constitution w left untouched, and the

- clergy were called dean and sub dean, and had so recently the power to confer honorary canonries that Charles Kingsley derived his first title of canon from this church ; d i an in his published life some beaut ful letters are given, written by him from Middleham when he went to receive the dignity of canon .

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

ton, who died without issue , leaving his inheritance to his T ’ “ H P sisters . his is so stated in Nicholas istoric eerage ” E re- o of ngland and is asserted by Banks, Baxter and ther an d As t authors, remains uncontradicted . to the hird L of R mentioned, the noble ord avensworth, we find that i f o his lineage, chiefly not exclusively, to k the name of F H -of- l itz ugh , with a coat arms practica ly identical with H ff that which the igh S heri bore, and somewhat similar F R o to that of the itz andolphs f Middleham, but still dis tin ctly separate from the latter and to this last fact we All of shall again refer . these lived either in the time the H As th o second or of the third King enry . to e first f this . n R F R Lo oble trio, obert itz andolph, rd of Middleham, we have shown positively that his blood descended in the pos terit h the y of his t ird son through thirteenth , fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the line of the Fitz Ra ndolphs S th of pennithorne, whose home was just beyond e river Ure Y ' F R , or ore, 1 in sight of the original itz andolph r am Castle at Middleham . Of this S pennitho ne f ily the last father of a family of the name at that place was Ralph R F R ( or andolph) itz andolph, who lived in the latter half x u E I of the si teenth cent ry in the time of dward V , and

‘ It will be remembered that Hen ry II was con temporary with Robert of M e m w o hi s s n s ere c s e- ers an d m n s er - i er s iddl ha , h with o , w a tl build o a t y bu ld - an d c rc i der s. Th e c evr n s an d eh evron el s ch came on cer n hu h bu l h o . whi tai c s rms in th e d s the S ec n an d r en r s ere n me oat of a ay of d y . . o d Thi . H w a d r m e r resem n ce to th e m n r er s or ri n ci al s r fa f o th i bla ai aft p of a oof, a m ar s in ear n s. Th e F it: s escen e r m en r ili ight ly buildi g Hug . d d d f o H y

tz R n r R en s r re on e r rms ehevron el s. Fi a dolph, Lo d of av wo th, bo th i a Otherwise the ir shield ( as well as that of th e famous High S h eri fi of Hen ry r esem e th e z R n s S en n rn II bl d that of Fit a dolph of p itho e . “ ” “ ” !t i s n ot impossible that th e in den t of the c hief ( which i s th e top th s e 18 m c n th e c evr n e of e hi ld) a odifi atio of h o l . — tThe Roman s appear to have called th e river Urn as h avi n at ti mes a

fierc en ess an d e mad . The S a n s cal it r or f lik that of a bull xo l Jo e, “ ! r m e c r was n . erv Yore . F o it ity of Yo k amed J aulx Abbey esen ts reme m ra fo w an e xt of ety ologi cal t n s rmauon . It as the Abbey of e Vale h re of t e Yo . A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

A W vill whose daughter, gnes, married Marmaduke y , E squire, ancestor of a line of brave, loyal and distin

ished . r gu men But, a little ea lier than this; at least one o F R of the tribe f itz andolphs had appeared, and had come into some prominence about a hundred miles south from Spennithorne in the northwest portion of Notting I h F Ran hamshire . refer especially to C ristopher itz H I‘II t Ed dolph , who was a subject of enry V , fa her of I h s A Nottin ham ward V . Thoroton in i ntiquities of g shire” ( published in refers to the marriage of a Ra certain Christopher Fitz ndolph with Joan or Joane,

h L L H . The daughter of Cut bert angton, of angton all same Cuthbert Langton ( according to the same author “ ' ” ity) en feofl ed certain lands in Hukn all Torkard ( Not tin hamshire g ) and other lands in the same shire, and in n other shires , to half a dozen personages and perso s , F R It amongst whom was a John itz andolph . thus ap pears that in the Tudor day certain of the name of Fitz R andolph held property and position in Nottinghamshire . ’ In the appendix of John B lack n er s History of Not “ tin gham (already briefly quoted from) we read of A ’ perambulacion of the fl orest of S heerewood made the n in eth day of S eptember in the Thirty eth year of the Reign e of King Henry the E ighth (by the grace of God E firan ce L of ngland and King, defender of the faith, ord I n S E of rela d, and upreme head upon earth of the nglish R B r mesle Church) by obert y y Gabriel Berwicke, R Per i E s A e o n t . ichard p , q , lexander Mening, Christopher fli tzran dole R Maurite , obert Whitemore, John Walker, P O . rrell, John Garnon, John almer Gentlemen : Robert L R R s evett, William Mellars, obert awson, John Lo scowe,

81 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

B r R N R a of the John istow and obert orth, eg rders said fiorest Sheere ood erambulacion e of w , which p b gun at the ” Kings Castle of Nottingham . We turn now with more particularity to the heraldic arms of the Fitz Randolphs in confirmation of the con clusion that the Fitz Randolphs of Nottinghamshire of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ( with whom E dward F R n o L n t H Massachu itz a dolph f a g on all, and also of Ne setts and w Jersey, forms the link connecting our fam ily of to-day with more ancient days) were descended from the Lords of Middleham of the twelfth and thir ee th s the t n centuries, and thu from near kinship of Will i m a the Conqueror . “ ’ In A Burke s General rmory, at page 357 , we find the arms of a certa in Fitz Ran ulph of the time of Henry II “ ” — In AZ . . stated thus . two chev or the same connection N the Fitz Randolph arms ( Co . orthumberland) is given “ ” In A Rob as az. or, a chief, indented, the ppendix of ’ III H . son s British erald, Vol , we have the arms of the “ F R t r i Az itz andolphs of S penni ho ne g ven thus , , a chief, ” r ex indented, or . and to this, as bo ne out in the several ’ n amples now to be seen at S t. Michael s Church of Spe ni

n . thor e, we shall refer a little later on ’ I R H . obson s British erald , Vol , gives the following T II Az n h . H Fitz R a ulp ( Derby Notts . emp enry ) T Ro H S ff two chev . or . [ his applied to bert, igh heri , close friend to Henry II ] “

h . F R az. itz andall , a c ief indented , or

l z . F Ran do fe a . itz , fretty or, a chief of the last

82

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

H t e H S ff ere, h n ( irrespective of the arms of the igh heri an d L R of the ord of avensworth) , we find scarcely any change in the family escutcheon from the day of Robert the Castle-builder during a period of about four hundred f 1 1 6 I and fi ty years ( say 4 to ndeed, taking the

whole record together, it may fairly be said that during that period this line of family and descent had practically the same heraldic device and blazonry— this particular coat-of-arms remaining in the Fitz Randolph line without notable alteration through the rule of the feudal Norman P n Y L dukes, through the la tagenet, ork and ancaster é r gimes , and continuing thus from before the founding of Middleham Castle in the twelfth century down to the Tudor days in which lived Christopher of Nottingham “ ” son E a P shire and his dward, forebe rs of the ilgrim It F R s E dward . antedates the Spennithorne itz andolph

( who , as we have seen, were in a straight line descended m R fro obert of Middleham) , and was borne also by m the ; and after their day the same form, with scarcely r a va iation even as to color arrangement, continued to be r an d E New bo ne by Christopher dward, ancestors of our

Jersey family . We could hardly look for stronger proof of source of lineage, for it must be kept in mind that, as time on these u went , heraldic symbols were most jealously g ard E st ed by nglish families, and most rictly watched and reg ulated s t by royal authority, inqui i ion and

” r er rem r i n e a e 1 27 h is s r en s a e Ba k a ks, a n ot at p g of Hi to y of W leyd l Th e c n e su orte r s an d es i s s r c s c n c efl de ha g of badg , t i tly aki g, hi y oes pen den t u on the wi of th e bearer ; an d so li kewi se a cr ests an d nzott . ga t no man ma y cha n g e his patern a l shi el th oug h en ti tl ed to 0 sli g h tly di fferen ce i t with out a c on firmati on ; an d he must on n o acc oun t ” s r r The r er has seen fferen ooat-of- rms u u p the a ms of an other . w it a di t a claimed as belon n g to the Fitz Ran dolphs an d to which was attached the ‘ i n s ri n m t ama s r r ere has een n i m o smble r ce pi g ot o J i a i . It b fou d p to t a t i s an e i e h to y auth n t c sourc .

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S we moderns generously (and generally) indulge was not n t In 1 22 Ea C u known to our forefa hers . 8 the rl of hester and Lincoln claimed certain ownership and control in R R Wensleydale, and summoned andolph, son of obert . “ F R L a itz andolph, ord of Middleham, to nswer by what ’ warran t he made towns and raised edifices in the E arl s ” “ of The The forest Wensleydale . answer was town of B eyn tbrigge was of the ancestors of the said Ran ulph by s the ervice of keeping that forest, so that they should have there abiding twelve foresters with a horse for each . This condition of care and control continued o thr ugh successive generations . “ in H T Ac Mr . Barker his istorical and opographical ” of count Wensleydale refers to this, quoting copiously L n He from ancient atin records a d historical notes . Ran l h L makes mention of u p de Glanville, who was ord E 1 1 1 1 1 Justiciary of ngland from 8 to 85, and was also L of t -in - R F ord Coverham, and was fa her law of obert itz R andolph, Lord of Middleham ; and the historian tells “ us Gamell that, after his death, William , son of , had ward of the forest till the death of the Lady Helewisa of M d s id leham, whose husband predecea ed her . After H rt A of 1 1 wards ube Walter, rchbishop Canterbury ( 93 Chief Justice of E nglan d ( 1 1 94 and Chan cellor ( 1 1 99 held i t for the kin g in wardship for ’ le sa s son s Rudul an Ran ul h R d l He wi h d . a u h , p p p being Ran ul h A dead, and p remaining a ward, the rchbishop Chancellor delivered Up his entire wardship to Theobald Valo n es de y and, during the whole of this period, it is

S o far as we can n e r r s s n { k ow , th i Lo d hip faithfully admi istered upon thei r trust ; but for fully five hun dred years followin g th e Con quest grea t 86

F I TZ R A N D O L P H TR A D I T I O N S

it came to be understood that the lands and titles and “ o r E L p wers of this g eat arldom, or ordship, were of the ” Ho of R nour ichmond . S pace is only taken here to give ’ parti cular mention to the Gray Friars Tower at Rich

mond, which is still to be seen as a reminder of the gen erosity and religious devotion of those who early bore fa n this mily ame . Mr . S peight writes thus about this spot and memorial “ Turning now from the market place through the old ’ F r T r F i riars wynd, we a rive at the ower of the G ay r ars , timeton ed yet beautiful in decay. This house was of the f d i oun at on of one of the great Lords of Middleham, R F 1 2 H 1 2 0 a R 8 . e lph itz andolph, in 5 died in 7 , and was bu A ried at Coverham bbey ; but his heart, enclosed in a leaden urn, was interred in the choir of the Church of H the Gr ay Friars of Richmond . e was a feudatory of the E of R an d arls ichmond, his place in the castle was ’ t N h E In over the Chapel of S . ic olas on the ast. Gale s Regi strum Honoris de Richmond there is a quaint old ’ - t bird s eye view of the castle ; and over the oratory of S . Nicholas is portrayed a banner displaying the arms of the ” hi e i n t e F t R or a c n de ed azur . i z andolphs ; , f, , H a ain F R ere, g , we find the itz andolph arms, which, according to various authorities, already mentioned, have (as we venture to repeat) descended from a period n ow T more than seven hundred years gone by. his heraldic r F R device, after being thus bo ne by the itz andolphs of

a , , v , F t Middleh m was as we ha e seen in the. use of the i z Randolphs of Spennithorne for three hundred and fifty a years or more, and was afterwards found (in subst ntially the same style) in the legitimate and authorized use of a 88

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

’

. t station S . Michael s Church occupies a shel tered an d , yet elevated, position ; from the top of its well weathered tower is one of the loveliest views of the dale imaginable the eye ranging over purp le heath and i wooded fell, and follow ng for many miles the silvery Y t windings of the ore, by abbey, and castle, and sta ely ll b a m ha , while many a e utiful village , hill, ha let and tree shaded-farm ca n be observed under the cheering in flu ” en ces of a bright sky . It was the privilege of the writer to visit this ancient ’ ch urch and to verify Mr . S peight s descriptions and the coats-of-arms mentioned above ; thence a drive was taken the L m in to S hawl of eyburn, a fine hill co manding an Spiring and delightful view of Wensleydale and of the imposing ruin of Middleham Castle . An appreciative article, replete with tender reverence e toward the past and its sacr d traditions, appeared in the “ ” Da n T A 2 1 T S 0 . rli gton and tockton imes, pril 9 , 9 5 his c is a journal of much dignity and haracter, and is espe “ cially devoted to the interests of Romantic Richmond a m can shire, portion only of whose char s be touched Th upon in a book like this of ours . e article is entitled “ ” Spennithorne Church, and in it constant reference is made to the patronage of the Fitz Randolphs through ss T c succe ive ages . his chur h is shown to be one of the Y very earliest in all orkshire, having been built, as we accom are informed, when the Conquest had not been lish d the Nor p e more than one hundred years, and when mans were still busy erecting their strong castles and A “ T ” great churches . ccording to this article in the imes l R F z Ra I 1 T it was bui t by obert it ndolph in 66 . his date m A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

is probably correct ; but, with all due deference to the

author of the article, it seems probable that the builder of Spen nithorne Church was Ralph (or Randolph) the In ather R . f of obert, builder of Middleham Castle this i c article certa n interesting records appear, to whi h, as yet,

. It we have not adverted seems that, even prior to the

date given, a Christian church existed at Spennithorne “ D S en in which, in the great omesday book, was called p g “ ” In D torp . omesday there is an authentic record that “ ” in en in or E ccl st ther e is a church S p gt p , . e , or I “ T ” chapel . t is evident, says the writer in the imes, that axon ch r h there was a S u c prior to the present structure, for stones with Runic characters have been found em an d S bedded in the east end of the chancel, a axon cross sculptured upon a stone was discovered under the flags in the chancel during the restoration of about thirty-five years ago, and is now fixed in the wall in a dark corner The of the vestry . writer of the article has ( from an imperfect list, to which he has had access , of rectors and “ ” patrons of the living ) brought forward some names of - F A i . or u 1 6 a old t me interest example, in ug st, 3 9 , it p ’ oi t pears that the patron this church of S . Michael s the Archangel at Spennithorne was Matilda Fitz Randolph ; 1 a Rad F R and in July, 433, the p tron was . itz andolph i the first name of the patron , as given, probably be ng an Radul hus Ra R abbreviation of p , otherwise lph or andolph . After the marriage of the F itz Randolphs with the Wy vills we find this last name repeatedly among the patrons, S croo es and, every now and then, associated with the p In D . 1 1 a (or S cropes) of anby 55 , for ex mple, Christo pher Wyvill was patron of the church ; and it was about

9 1 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

as a a a e s this same time, we may rec ll, th t his rel tiv , Chri to her F R p itz andolph, was filling a place of social prom r * in en ce a little way southward in Nottin ghamshi e . Again in 1 649 the family of Wyvill was associated with c 1 6 2 the patronage of the chur h, and in 7 another Christo ill W vill W v . pher y , Bart , was associated with William y , 1 2 S ir . a Gent , in the patron ge of the church ; and in 7 9 ill 1 6 W v . a Marmaduke y , Bart , was the p tron ; and in 7 4 ir ill n f c s A . o . e S . . W O o M yv , Bart , was patr n the re tor r R F ill wh o h e . v of the chu ch was v rancis Wy , filled t is s 1 6 1 1 62 r po ition from 5 to 5, and an oil port ait of him is

still to be seen at the rectory at Spennithorne . We quote below some interesting lines from this well-considered ” article in the Darlington and Stockton “ Times “ In that chamber which now contains the organ, at the

end of the north aisle, there will be observed a curious l tombstone, like a stone chest against the wal , with a plain T surface . here is no inscription on it, but it has sculp ured u e t aro nd its sides in relief, repres ntations of heraldic in shields painted their appropriate colors, which during F the last restoration were probably renewed . ortunately there has been preserved a will which determines who is r The the tenant of this nameless g ave . copy of the testa A F R 1 ment of lan itz andolph, dated 457 , directs that his ‘ t body be interred in the Church of S . Michael the ’ i n h r A n n . S en t o S t. rchangel , of p g , in the chapel of Mary T S t. his chamber, then the chapel of Mary, as it is still

called , was evidently the burial place of this ancient fam

‘ The er s s en ce i n th e in s i s s me n s l n me r m th e p i t k h of thi o what u u ua a , f o time it en ters the family soon a ter th e marr ia e with th e daughter of John

n i s at e s rem r e. was ter wards i n use i n th e rs of Gau t, l a t a kabl It a fi t r ge n er i on z Ran s a er e se t emen in New ersey. at of Fit . dolph ft th i . t l t J But n i s i i n m r e e r of this n ame a d t assoc at o s o Will app ar fu ther on . 92

F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

to always come out again, till simple folk have begun i have a k nd of weird and superstitious idea about him , as if he were something uncanny, and better let alone . S o in this small church in rural Wensleydale we have an s the memorials of hi toric and distant past, and also of E S a vast mpire , showing that even from this quiet pot Britain’ s sons have gone forth with distinction to distant E parts of the world , and done good service . ven this small church is eloquent with the consecration of the a l past ; and as we st nd in its chance alone , the mural tab

in lets, the emblazoned windows , memory of the brave, — the pious, and beautiful the light playing through the stained windows in gules, azure, and vert as in still mel o — dy all speak eloquently to the heart things unutterable , ‘ ’ ‘ i thoughts that wander through eternity . S c transit ’ ‘ ’ ld T A e F O . gloria mundi , says grim ime , there y , aith ‘ ’ replies, earthly glory, but there is an immortal .

F T LFR K RKB Y- IN- A S HF E L H S . CHURC O WI ID , I I D , G HA S H RE N OTTI N M I , IN WHICH WA S FOUND THE TAB LET COM MEM ORATI NG CERTAI N T E I XT N TH NTUR H OTO OF THE F ITZ RAN DOLP H S OF H S EE CE Y . P O A FE W ONTH S LAT R HIS H RCH A N D ITS ORAP HED 1 906 . M E T C U STRO D B Y F IR CONTEN TS WERE DE YE E . A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

CHAPTE R VII

R S U AND LA HA KI KBY, TTON NGTON LL

In the northwestern part of Nottinghamshire are two towns about three miles apart : one of them being called i -in -Ashfield S K rkby , and the other being known as utton in -Ashfield At -in -Ashfield h . Kirkby a churc has existed Th t . e from the days of S . Wilfrid edifice has from time the to time been restored, and, since visit made to it by 1 06 the writer in 9 , it has been destroyed by fire ; and, so H a . e far as he is aware, its contents were lso destroyed found upon its wall an interesting memorial of the Fi tz R The andolph family . fact of its existence had been brought to his attention by his daughter* who had visited 1 6 this church in 89 , and had copied the language of this The memorial . writer compared the copy with the orig 1 I 06 . t inal, in 9 , and found it accurate is as follows “ Hic j acen t corpora Thomae Fitzran dolf n uper de Langton Hall huius parochiae generosi et Katharin ae uxoris eius quorum patres fuere X p ofer Fitzran dolf na per de Langton p redicta armiger et God F ulliam n er Ha fratus be up de Walton ll in Com .

“ e M ss r n e z l w h w fe Dr arl es D. Th n i Ca oli Fit Ran do ph ; n o t e i of . Ch P n r arfitt of O ta io . 95 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

Da A i il i n a l r r . rby miles . m e o um pet e e astra Predicta Kathari n 2 D 1 ae obiit Maii A . 593 et predict Thomae 27 die Februari i The translation of the above appears below H T Fitlzran dol h ere lie the bodies of homas p , late of L n H n a gton all, ge tleman, of this parish, and of

Katherine, his wife, whose fathers were Christopher F S L o itzrandolph, quire , of angt n aforesaid, and Fulliambe H Godfrey , Knight, late of Walton all D T in the County of arby . heir spirits sought A 1 . 2 D the stars Said Katherine died May , . 593 ,

T Feb 1 8 . and said homas . 27 , 59 The writer i s i nformed that this brass tablet was dis

the Rev T. covered about thirty years ago by . Woodman, of i ad incumbent Kirkby, whilst digg ng in his garden, joining the churchyard which presumably in earlier n The years included this garde . reverend gentleman took

. L counsel with his warden, Col William angton Coke, as S a to what disposition hould be made of the t blet, at the same time expressing some doubt or aversion as to the “ ” a line about the stars . Col . Coke very suit bly advised a ‘ the vicar to place the t blet on the church wall, and it was so done .

The S t a -in -Ash church of . Mary M gdalene at S utton field has records reaching back to the time when such records were instituted under the reign of Henry VIII ; but these sixteenth century records were crude , and in the register at S utton they are more or less confused an d A in disorder . recent attempt to bind them together has T . a not been wholly successful hey furnish, however, dat

96

A S T O R Y O F A TH O US A N D Y E A R S

of some value and of considerable interest. We learn 1 88 from them that at some time in the month of June, 5 , “ ” P f r F T X o e itz randoll was there buried . his doubtless F R E L was Christopher itz andolph, squire, of angton H The i T o all . eldest son of Chr stopher was homas, wh se n e ame app ars in the brass tablet, and who married the ir o Fulliambe as T daughter of S G dfrey , or, horoton F li T . It e spells it, o j ambe app ars that homas had a son,

Jacobus (or James) , who married a daughter of a dis tin uished N a son g orthampton f mily, and they had a , Philalethes Philalerhes - , or , who died at twenty two with E d out issue . Other sons of Christopher were John and All t L ward and Christopher . of hese were of angton H all, a charming old mansion situated about two miles r m k -in -Ashfield an d f o Kir by , and having a tradition record flavored with antiquity even when Thoroton wrote “ 1 F m T L of it in 677 . ro horoton we learn that John ang ton of Kirkeby about the n in eth year of Henry VI held * La P an six when he died one Mess . called ngton lace d closes . Thoroton traces back the record of Langton Hall to the of H III time enry ( middle of thirteenth century) , and to the of R c R to possession ichard d udding n, and says in efiect that from this early ownership it was conveyed to “ I ’ Ge offrey de Langton . n Langton s family it continued ’ H n the E t t m — La n d till e ry igh h s i e that Cuthbert ngto , y to F R he ing without issue male, it fell itz andolph by t ’ arr L n t m iage of a g on s daughter and heir, in whose name c i e it ont nu d till of late. It was the privilege of the writer and his companion to

‘ m n s i n Mesm g H a or hou e an d ts appe dages. 97 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

L n H 1 0 and x visit a gton all in 9 6, to enjoy in it an e ample of the generous and gracious hospitality which has doubt F r less for many centuries been there dispensed . o a num ber of years it has been in the ownership of the family of

Ad S m an . miral al ond, d has had the most considerate care The a an o m nsion is long d low, with quaint old r oms and charming antique windows and arches , and opens out to a well-kept driveway and to the perfection of an E nglish lawn ; an d close by we entered a rose garden of the sort I N rarely found away from the sles of Britain . o wonder of that when the spirits its favored occupants , in the ages “ agone, could no longer linger here , they sought the ” stars . Thoroton informs us that in 1 6 1 2 the owners of S ut -in -Ashfield Lo ton are set down, William , rd Cavendish , E La T L n dte dward ngford, homas Clark, William y y of F R S . E . kegby, Gent , and dward itz andolph , Gent ‘It E F R appears that this dward itz andolph , a younger T l brother of homas of the brass tablet, had severa chil r dren , whose names are given ( with sund y vagaries of orthography an d other uncertainties) in the tattered rec o P ords of the church at S utt n . rodding amongst these E to E d memorials , we learn that lizabeth , daughter dwar , “ N 1 1 8 R F was baptized ovember 7 , 5 9 ; that ichard itz ” o E A 1 6 rando, s nne of dward, was baptized in ugust, 59 “ E Fitzran dall ( precise date not given) and that dward , ” E Fitzran dal 1 sonne of dward , was baptized the 7th day 1 60 of July, 7 . It has been well understood that E dward Fitz Ran th New F R dolph, e father of the Jersey itz andolphs, was born in Nottinghamshire about the beginning of the

98

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

N n F R seventeenth century . atha iel itz andolph in his “ ” Book of Records ( 1 750 ) writes positively of Notting ms o E but ha hire as the l cality whence dward emigrated, fix r - N does not his bi th date . Some ( including athaniel ‘ F R su 1 1 itz andolph) have pposed this to be about 6 4 , but d as to this there is no certainty . Considering the confuse way in which the church records at S utton were kept and in preserved, it is by no means impossible that a slight accuracy may have crept into them regarding the exact r E time of the bi th of this dward, who was the son of E dward and the grandson of Christopher Fitz Randolph L H The of angton all . precise data are not at hand to o correct either the tradition (or supp sition) as to date,

which has been held in the family on the one hand, or to The qualify the ancient church record on the other . dif ference in years would be short and is in no way im * a do a E port nt . We know that the emigr nt dward of N ottinghamshire was barely, if quite , grown up when he 1 6 0 t came to Massachusetts in 3 , and that he was s ill quite a young man when he married E lizabeth Blossom at S cit

. l oth 1 6 uate, Mass , on the of May, 37 , and this is con sistent with the information contained in the Sutton records ; and in these records we fin d practical con “ ” firmation of the book of Nathaniel and of the facts and i traditions handed down in the family since Pilgr m days .

’ ’ ” En joyi n g an excellen t din n er at the an cien t Den man s Head of S ut ton ch res e M n e s ee e — he n ot c n ce to , at whi p id d i Ho t K l y who, if had ha d be an r s m n e een er a e S am oh n son an E n s I i h e , would hav b a v it —bl of li h man for domin atin g talkativen e ss an d wi t I aske ou r eloquen t l an lo rd h i m r e he w s n t ere n how old s i n n ight be. He plied that a o th to start it a d ’ c n be cer a n mi be five n re e rs . m se ould t t i , but it ht hu d d y a old I u d aloud that I had an im ressi on of avi n g live d the re some thr ee hun dred ye ars “ “ ” I l u r i e - k e c en s a e ed th e e e s e c . bac k. that wid y d but ti al B di t Well “ ” re in ed mi t e r n re e r s e r emoi n d me s he I jo , it fou hu d d y a , aid t ’ n n ee er a ahortsman u n he d s sh n in i k p , of who tould a f d that jou t ot o ty —‘ ’ ‘ n oi n e c r s. Hi s r n s e him cudden t h e ma e n ow i d a k d k it a hu dred ? No. ’ ‘ ’ ’ dden t s s he e n ell l i e for R ? I cu , ay , do y thi k I d t a a C OW 99

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

A T n nna, the widow of a near relative . heir son was Ra R D m m r dolph, or alph, uke of West oreland, who ar ied m Margery Booth of Barton of a noble Lancaster fa ily . T Ra R heir only son, again, was lph , or andolph, whose ’

E . T R wife s name was dith heir son was another alph, or R D andolph, who held the ukedom of Westmoreland, and E D who married Catherine, daughter of dward, uke of H Buckingham, and died in the fifteenth year of enry III r V . Ralph and Cathe ine had a larg e fami ly the f larger proportion being daughters . O the sons we shall t The shortly make fur her mention in some detail . oldest H D son was enry, uke of Westmoreland, who died in the t E ’ H fif h year of lizabeth s reign. enry had two wives, by r rs the second of whom, Marge y, he had two daughte ; T E but by the first, Jane, who was daughter of homas, arl R son of utland, he had (besides four daughters) a , D Charles, who was the last uke of Westmoreland, and

who A H D of S . married nna, daughter of enry, uke urrey T ff T heir o spring consisted of four daughters . his last t u duke, Charles, was at ainted for his Opposition to the r le of E lizabeth when refusing to obey the summons to her n him an D prese ce , issued to and to his kinsm , the uke of h m l n 1 1 A r Nort u ber a d . , in 57 fte wards he sought shelter amongst the Scotch Borderers, and made his way to the

n . Co tinent, where the remainder of his life was spent His dukedom and his properties were confiscated to the

Crown . Ra We have referred to the large family of the last lph, R D or andolph, uke of Westmoreland, whose wife was H Catherine and whose oldest son was enry, the father of ’ H n r s rothers Thomas h . e b to C arles y appear have been ,

1 02 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

E dward Christo her R an dol h Cu thber t. , p , p and Christo pher is mentioned as having been present at the family coun cil at Raby Castle when the reply of refusal was sent u p to Queen E lizabeth . Th e h a e writ r has been unable to ascertain , t rough G le t h m or otherwise, the particulars of bir h, deat and arriage o h D t f these several brot ers of Henry, uke of Wes more As H m d . a land we have alre dy seen, enry hi self die in

the E 1 6 . fifth year of Queen lizabeth , that is, in the year 5 3 ’ It is probable that the whole period of his brothers lives 1 00 1 0 i the may have been, say, between 5 and 57 , cover ng H III s an d entire reign of enry V , and, perhap , antedating No re postdating that reign somewhat . w, it was, as we ’ H II'I s a call, in the thirtieth yea r of King enry V reign th t ’ Christopher Fitz Randolph ( according to B lackn er s His “ tory) took part in a perambulacion of the fforest of ” S heerewood . We have learned from the Church Rec ords at Sutton that Christopher Fitz Randolph was there

1 88 . x t buried in 5 Just here , e act, positive his ory would Th seem to pause . e writer is without absolute proof in - r F R record form that Ch istopher itz andolph, who died 1 88 was T E in 5 , the son of homas , or of dward, or of * R a Christopher, or of Cuthbert, or of andolph, who p H D pear to have been the brothers of enry, uke of West T moreland . here is , however, evidence ( and some of it has been quite abundantly adduced in the course of this

“ Noti n g this n ame Cuthbert more than on ce in th e Nevi lle an d West m re n rec r s an d a n n n n th e n me er n n of o la d o d , ag i oti g it i a of Cuthb t La gto , Lan gton Hall ( whose deughter Christopher Fitz Ran dolph mar r ie d) a er r ses as th e oss1bi l it s i een m rr re v s qu a i to p of thi hav n g b a a i of lati e ,

or 0 famd c n n c i n s. er was an n s n m s ci a o e t o Cu b t u u ual a e. t had as o tion with t e mi ercy r um er n m i n re i n . fa l of P of No th b la d, with who lat o s rel i i oe an d rien dshi the e es e r e h n hip, g p N vill w un ited . T is i s o e of the m n r c omcxden ces our s r ren n ot n i o of to y, but appa tly without i terest. 1 03 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

narrative) that Christopher and Thomas and E dward Fitz Randolph of the S utton Records and of the Thoro — ton Antiquities ( and as to two of them o f the memorial mural tablet at Kirkby) were of the same line and source an d heraldry as was n ot only the Spen nithorne line but also the original line of the Lords of Middleham from m n On e whom were descended the E arls of West orela d . remarkable thing in this situation is the j uxtaposi ti on of names and dates under circumstances which appear

plainly to indicate, if not to establish, this trio of names Christopher and Thomas and E dward of the Westrn ore land succession as closely related to a corresponding trio n Nottin hamshire of ames in the g line, and to indicate as m a the strongest of probabilities , a ounting, as it would p n ot pear, to a moral certai ty, that one of the five br hers of H Du T E d enry, ke of Westmoreland (namely, homas, R ward, Christopher, andolph and Cuthbert) was the pro genitor of this group of names already encountered in ’ r s R o Tho oton ec rds, in Kirkby Church and in S utton — T E F Church namely, Christopher, homas and dward itz

Randolph .

In re passing, it may here be noted ( in relation to the o f o - m mark as to lack rec rd evidence) that, aside fro the c s a artic a cumulation of historian or ntiquarian, no such p ular evidence could possibly have come down to us ; for all church records of E ngland begin a full generation ( or more) later than the appearance in life of the sons of this a R E f l st andolph of the arls o Westmoreland . But the juxtaposition above mentioned includes the fact that the eas two u s who tr ured annals of disting i hed antiquarians,

1 04

F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

On a sixteenth . e abandonment of a family n me would perhaps make another all the easier and the more natural, if such abandonment S hould appear advisable or desirable .

Moreover, the greatest glory and the largest advantage which appeared to have come to the Nevilles was through ‘ the marriage of Mary Fitz Randolph of Middleham to Robert de Neville about the middle of the thirteenth cen

. S a F R tury till further, the f mily name of itz andolph was one of decidedly greater distinction and was allied N with more ability, prestige and success than either eville F M ldr A d T an d a ed . n or itz , again still further, homas E an d R dward and Christopher Cuthbert and andolph , the H D m brothers of enry, uke of Westmoreland , were the ih F T selves a peculiar and strict sense itz Randolphs . heir ’ ’ R His n father s name was andolph . father s ame was ’ Ra HIS ndolph . father s name was Randolph, or, as the Ra name is frequently written in an abbreviated form, lph, La or, as given by Gale and other writers in their tin rec Rad l h u us. ords, p r R Moreover still , in the line of descent f om ibald , the brother of the great Alan (trusted lieutenant of William the Conqueror) , in the course of about four centuries of t l R n his ine of worthies , there were no less than twelve a In l . n ear all dolphs in the family headship other words , y u of the sons , who were in the line of primogenit re either of the Fitz Randolphs or of the earlier Nevilles or of the E R arls of Westmoreland, were andolphs . For t all these reasons , if here were any occasion at all to change again the family patronym, it would be the most reasonable and natural an d dignified thing possible e rd to fall back upon the designation, which had be n a wo

1 06 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D YE A R S

n ot of power and preference, only through the entire his tory of the E nglish commonwealth from the time of the r s an d Nor Conque or downward, but al o even in Brittany ’ mandy and Norselan d long before William the Norman s

invasion was dreamt of . But what circumstance was there which would suggest or induce any change of name by the kinship of the West ? T the morelands here were perhaps two considerations, The s s second being the stronger . fir t arose by rea on of the parting of the ways at the second marriage of the Ra R l c lph, or ando ph, whose se ond wife was the cele brated f * His f L mfiord Joan of Beau ort. first wi e, ady S , it en has be seen, was of noble, and even of royal, descent, and h er children constituted the older and perhaps the prouder division ; and yet Joan Beaufort was also of ’ m o royal blood, and a ongst Joan s immediate p sterity there are many names of great strength an d high repute ; an d m , incidentally, it may at this point be re arked that the names which are associated with our Massachusetts an d Ne i of F t R w Jersey l ne i z andolph, and which appear in Tho n n d in K an d l roto a irkby in S utton, as a ready ’ shown, are names which had descended on Joan s side of the fa il o f Ral m y the ph of Westmoreland, who died in ’ 1 A o n s e 435. mongst J a numerous children are thre T a e Ed . n m d ward, Cuthbert and homas

“ m Roger Gale con tin ues in his an cien t Latin record the n ame Neville fro oin t to poin t alon g down through the lin es of descen dan ts of Joan Beau ort but n ever on ce gives the n ame Nevill e as th e n ame of an y desc en dan t ‘ tad S tafl ord h he s th e e s m re n i n e n th e of y , t ou h follow W t o la d l dow to

a ers rl e e as e. We e n ot n the ui n tette d u t of Cha s, l t duk hav fou d of br ogher s en r e es m rel n men i n e oth erw eres an of H y Duk of W t o a d, t o d th b G l e : an d b him n ei er h m s n or r n or r s er n or y a y th T o a Edwa d. Ch i toph ,

Ran h or er i s sai be e i e. es m re n was e dolp , n Cuthb t d to a N v ll W t o la d a duk dom—n o m a ami n me s the o n er t a famil n a e. By wh t f ly a hould y u g br others of th e e an d thei r son s be kn own ? 1 07 F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

l t A though as pointed out by recent histories, here may have been to some extent a separation in feeling an d in terest between these two divisions of the fam i t ily, st ll, it is to be said that in public mat ers and in religi ous views they usually kept close to the old lines T an a a . d st nd rds, and so kept together hey were L Catholics, but they had been ancastrians , and they would have g ladly been Catholics of the Wycliffe or — — Lancastrian school Catholics of the open mind o i lib r — T e al views oi progressive principles . hey lamented the threatened disintegration of the Catholic Church ; but what they most abhorred was the substitution therefor of T In on e the personal autocracy of the udors . or two exceptional cases the Tudors came into close touch and e ill s a relationship with the N v e and Westmorel nds ; but, for the most part, the principles of these parties were as The F R far apart as the poles . old itz andolph blood and T n mind had scant sympathy for udor greedi ess, and less H 'II respect for Tudor doctrines an d tyranny . enry V

e He . was a usurp r. had no proper place in royalty By the ancient families he was regarded as a parvenu and He common adventurer. proved himself at once a man m f s . He o ability, but al o a tyrant and a iser seized what ’ he could of other people s possessions and boarded them . His H III — son, enry V , was even more greedy whilst he changed his father’ s policy of parsimonious acquisition

- into a policy of lavish expenditure for self gratification . ’ His father s wealth and the royal allowances made by his people sufli ced not to provide for his costly folly and He sin . desired more wives than the Catholic religion e Two would p rmit. things therefore became apparently

1 08

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

among the few acts to which modern sentimen t refuses

P t D 1 8 ir Ed rior to this , on the 9 h of ecember, 53 , S w N L ard eville, together with ord Montague and the Mar E T H quis of xeter, had been beheaded on ower ill for treason against Henry on evidence which in our day n In s would be regarded as utterly insig ificant . the ca e of S ir N him John eville and a few others executed with , the crime committed was chiefly the asserting of the rights of the priests to the refuge they had obtained with As S o . the cottish b rderers the historian tells us , they had D th not fought a battle nor taken a life. uring e period ’ of Tudor s N s Mary rule , the evilles and Westmoreland a t were, being Catholics, less troubled ; but it appe rs hat, v D was e en with the uke of Westmoreland , his Catholicity not of that Spanish inquisitorial type most affected by H r sus Mary . e and seve al other nobles were put under icion s i p by Mary as to the soundnes of their relig on, and they were reprimanded for holding views not acceptable

the . Is to Catholic queen it any wonder that, following all these sorrows and sufferings of the Nevilles and West — morelands and of their posterity and kinsmen the Salis D Latimers — D u s burys and acres and , Charles , ke of We t moreland should in E lizabeth’ s day find himself driven T from further allegiance to udor dominance . E ven he a approached the reality of disloyalty reluct ntly ; but, when Queen E lizabeth sent for him ( an d the heads of

“ er th e e r cres n er c n n ec i n the evi es Ov d ath of Lo d Da , a oth o t o of N ll . Froude sheds more histor ic al te ars than over that of th e ill-fated an d hi h charactered c oun tese. Dacres had in adverten tly fallen in to a fracas wh i st r c e i i h hun tin g dee in whi h a foreste r had b en killed. H s partic ipati on n t e r afiray would ha dly hay e in cu rred a death sen ten ce in an y age . But Hen ry was determmed on h i s e a n s re s an d n rcess n al d d ath ag i t a on i te io ike. an e seafiold the o r n n em n acc r in w l to th p pula you g obl a o d gly as ed. I IO A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

t n e a s u a o her oble families) , d m nding that he ho ld appe r f before her to answer for himself, he, after a amily coun h tai t e e . cil, determined to disobey que n Being at nted, his

splendid property was confiscated, his titles of n obility

were obliterated, and his family name was apparently * r - stained with the disg ace of treason . Th e Westmoreland dislike of the Tudors antedated the T be ff . H su erings just now briefly outlined enry udor, Ki H I'I of fore he became ng enry V , had taken the title — Duke of Ri chmond a title which had first been born e by a A R R the gre t lan ufus, the brother of ibald , ancestor of H r the Westmorelands . Worse than this when en y III S on V desired to advance his bastard , to whom his E 1 1 mistress , lizabeth Blount gave birth in 5 9 , he made i ff D Ri this illeg timate o spring uke of chmond, a title which in earlier days had been held in highest respect and reveren ce by the Westmorelands and other descendants

of the companions of the Conqueror . It is quite true that some of the later events I have t e at counted took place dates later than the appearance, as F R itz andolphs of men who, so far as we can reasonably u j dge, must have come out of the line of Westmoreland ; and the writer has no wish to force the argument as to any possible occasion for a readoption of the old family

“ History has but on e voice an d ver di ct touchin g the character an d proud i i r hi pos t e n of this n oble duke. F oude wr ites of m an d h is comrade i n “ opposition to Tudo r ru le th e Duke of Northumberlan d) as the hereditary ” ( “ e er s th e r . Th e r e s m re n sa s r e was l ad of No th Ea l of W t o la d, y F oud , the e th e re se e i e r m n er r n c h ad of g at Hou of N v ll , f o a you g b a h of which - s r n r c th e n m er . He was th e re n dson had p u g Wa wi k, Ki g ak g at of

S tafiord e c n m . He m rr e s s er e e , Duk of Bu ki gha had a i d a i t of Duk of

r . N s e in n n s e rouder r er n s an d n o m No folk o hi ld E gla d how d qua t i , fa ily g ’ e r n er rt in th f d e r — r i had play d a a d pa e eu a e a of En glan d. F on de s H s “ r E n 01. IX 5 1 7 . me s s Th e re c re ese to y of , Hu ay g at dit of th two n emen g]?estmorel an d an d r m er n h ze for he obl I ] , t o No thu b la d with t at al ” a o c rei r n c s i revai led s n re t e er m C th li ig o whi h t ll , oo d w og th ultitudes. ’ me s i s r n n fi 881 . Hu H to y of E gla d I , I I I F I TZ R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

e n ame . H has continued the Westmoreland story down to the attainder (by Queen E lizabeth) of the last duke to show that the old indign ation persisted to the end and to

place in evidence its final results . S uffice it to say that th e Westmorelan ds had a continuing feud with the Tu

n ff . dors, and were gradually a d e ectually crushed by them Now as to the junior members of the family connection — those who were not in an y case in the direct line of

title and wealth , and whose only inheritance would have been character and the distinction attaching to a noble —it all ancestry, is of things the most natural that they a should, under existing circumstances , grieve at the cal m h o ities which efel their name and house . S lamenting, what better, nobler, or more suitable thing could they do — — than to assume as they had every right to do the name of the ancient family from which much of their glory had n i bee orig nally derived, and which name had been kept so persistently before them in the headship of each generation for nearly four centuries But in the case of the assumption by the descendants o m f the dukes of West oreland, or by any of them of the F R ancient and honored name of itz andolph, there would be even n o such chan g e of name as when the Fitz Mal - d N e In a dre s took over the name of evill t fact, the n me F R of itz andolph had always been one of the appellations,

“ Of course th e write r does n ot in timate the possibili i n an y case of a chan e n ame by th e Nevi ll es. ere are s i evill es i n n n , of all . t ll E gla d r Th an d Th e writer has met some i n Ame i ca . 1'A like c ircumsta nce had dive rsified th e histoey of the Perci e arls of . E orth umberlan d an d rc es e r w m G ai rdn er r es ot on e N of Wo t , of ho w it , of the En glish n oble houses i s so distin gui shed as th e Perci es throughout th e e r n e n s s ry. i s rem r e li e for its n un whol a g of E gli h . hi to It a kabl a k lo g

r en n e its c e emen s its er u ltu re r s an d e ers. b ok li , high a hi v t , al e of a t of l tt P re-em n en s as rem r e S i r rri s c s for its lli n ces m n i t al o , a k d b a Ni ola , a a a o g the eer e it c n in es th 3 thou h re resen ted on ce more b a p ag , o t u to day, g p y 1 1 2

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

c a

a 0 f s m E w e a 8 S : m P h 5 a 5 - o . —a t m S R8 , z s “ m E c . e o E n d ” S 5 3 0 a o . m e m 2 o 2 3 a m m 5 o : c 5 5 m 5 h m b a 5 2 e a n a o - 0 m 0 a n a -n u m e . 3 8 m o 3 E o 0 3 8 8 z m . E c u a o 0 cfi 2 O 9 c 3 m r o o m 8 o 5 m 0 o x v n n c 8 c 5 e o a t 5 a w w< m

o a c A 2 $ 5 t o 5 3 8 m ; o 3 5 o m v n 3 m 3 m o o O o £ w m o n . o e h o mS n w E u c m o 5 v E u a w fi 8 o c 2 w fi o m L B 2- e z n a o n : 3 ? m“ Ee 4 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

Thoroton and Blackner have introduced us to a young gentleman of quality named Christopher Fitz Randolph th e n H III who, in the latter part of long reig of enry V , “ ” assisted at the perambulacion of Sherwood Forest. The S utton Church register an d the Ki rkby Church ’ Memorial tablet have presented us to Christopher s sons, Thomas and E dward (the former being wed to the T daughter of a baronet of ancient lineage) , and horoton again comes in with his genea logical tables showing that the line of Thomas was extinguished in the second sub s sequent generation, but mentioning (be ides a Christo F R un pher and a John) an E dward itz andolph , who doubtedly is the same mentioned in the S utton register — as the father of another E dward born i n the first decade r — of the seventeenth centu y which last, we are well con P vin ced E . , was dward the ilgrim The T dis udors, the incoming of whom brought such aster and sorrow to the family whose history we have E a . followed, g ined the nglish throne four centuries ago In those days comparatively few of the E nglish surnames s F r now heard were cho en or settled in families . o the most part only nobles had enjoyed family names of per E th sistence and significance . ven ese we have seen to A shift and change as occasion required . fterward names were chosen or became fixed by reason of occupations — of personal peculiarity of demeanor -or achievement or x of some e traordinary event, or as connected with s F R ome particular locality . itz andolph was not of these . It had from early centuries been a persistent and honored

. It n ame It had never been in wide or general use . was In not difficult to trace those who had borne it . one spot

1 1 5 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S alon e in upper Yorkshire it had continued for several -o f- an d cen turies . Its coat arms was continuous was in niz F recog ed use by E dward itz Randolph in S tuart days, f T E just ollowing udor days . liminating the brief lines of the Lord of Ravensworth and the High Sherifi of Hen ry II both of Whom had been merged in other — n ames an d famili es for centuries gone by there was n o other lin e to which Christopher Fitz Randolph could be lon g than that which descended from the Lords of Mid dl F E eham. son E inding his , dward, father of dward the P —o f- ilgrim, bearing the coat arms of this noble line, there seems to be no escape from our conclusion that the Not ti n ghamshi re and American Fitz Randolphs came down The i from this j unior branch of Westmoreland . comb ned testimony of antiquarian, of church register and of mural i a tablet al ke point to this conclusion . Many circumst nces “ Th s join to establish it . e coincidence of several chri t en e a the d n mes , beginning some generations earlier in i A k nship, and continuing to and into the merican poster i The he ty confirm it . arms verify it and t dates precisely S a i can fit it . uch a conc tenat on find no other explica i It S F Ra n t on . appears afe to say that Christopher itz E P dolph, the grandfather of dward the ilgrim , could have H derived his name from no other line than this . ere and not elsewhere do we find a fit setting for his name, his association s and his marriage with the heiress of Langton

Hall .

1 1 6

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I TI O N S

s ll a The n u r r an d who e son was Wi i m Co q e o , r r A i h r ed eofire he was b othe of vic a, w o mar i G y ,

E RE Av1 CIA. G OFF Y,

E UDo— ri an Duke of B tt y . A te of Alan an d di ed in Married gnes, daugh r , 1 079 . — RIBALD Lord of Middleham. Alan R fu D k of Ri hm n [Brother to u s, u e c o d, a r e an d to Stephen and to B ardolf. ] M r i d Bea

x hi s as m n S t. tri , and spent l t days in retire e t at ’ r Y A e k . Ma y s bb y, or — R ANDOLPH Lord of Middleham.

A . th r R e Married gatha, daughter of e fi st ob rt

of B ruce .

R R F Z RA — h m OBE T IT NDOLPH Lord of Middle a . Who built the Castl e of Middleh am and married Hele i s i w a de Glanv lle .

RA F Z RA — l NDOLPH IT NDOLPH Lord of Midd eham. r R Du Married Ma y, daughter of oger Bigot, ke of Norfolk .

RA F I — NDOLPH n RANDOLPH Lord of Middleham . A m Who married nastasia, daughter of Willia , L P ord ercy .

AR F ITz RA M Y NDOLPH . D R A t e aughter of andolph and nastasia, a rich, ligi ous and benevolent woman who married R e i AD 1 20 N . he . ob rt de ev lle S died 3 , having

survived her husband 49 years .

1 1 8 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

A D —L R NDOLPH E NEVILLE ord of Middleham . h W ose second wife was Margaret, daughter of h en D 1 2 Marmaduke T w g . ied 33 .

RA DE —L NDOLPH NEVILLE ord of Middleham . A H Aud Who married licia, daughter of ugo de

1 68 . ley . Died 3 — JOHN DE NEVILLE Lord of Middleham . * D 1 Who married Matilda Percy . ied 389 . — RANDOLPH DE NEVILLE Lord of Middleham an d

first E arl of Westmoreland . Whose first wife was Margaret ( daughter of H L taff m E d ugo) , ady S ord descended fro — ward I and whose second wife was Joan of r Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt and g and

II He 1 . daughter of E dward I . died in 435 By his second wife his posterity runs into and

e . adown the E nglish royal line . S e page 36 We now follow the posterity of the E arl of ’ La S tafl rd . Westmoreland by his first wife, dy o JOH N ( the children of whose brother Randolph E were all daughters) married lizabeth , daughter He T H E a . of homas olland, rl of Canterbury

1 . died two years before his father, in 433

' resum tive' JOH N, heir p p l to the dukedom of West

moreland . T Was hero of the battle of owton , in the year

“ The secon d of this n oble family to become allie d with th e Neville e Fitz Ran dolph lin .

me s ak s him as e i n act th e me th e t e an d 1Hu of duk f at ti of bat l , of his e n a in i the cat erc e r m e r n an d n e r b i g w th P y , Duk of No thu b la d, a a n sm n an d wi S ir n e e r er estm r e n an d cr es ki a , th Jo N vill , b oth of W o la d , Da , n h u n a other m a . 1 1 9 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

1 on the Lan 1 46 , and bravely lost his life there He A n castrian side . had married n a, the widow

of John de Neville . — RANDOLPH Duke of Westmoreland . A n ( S on of John and n a) married Margaret,

daughter of Booth de Barton of Lancaster.

RA D . N OLPH , heir presumptive ’ a E Died during his father s lifetime ; m rried dith,

daughter of the E arl of Sandwich . RA —D NDOLPH uke of Westmoreland . on R E ( S of andolph and dith) , married Cath E D erine, daughter of dward, uke of Bucking * D 1 2 . ham . ied 5 4 — RANDOLPH fifth son of Randolph an d Catherine . Th H e e first son being enry, whose son Charl s was the last in the line of these dukes of West an d T E d moreland, the other sons being homas,

. D ward, Christopher and Cuthbert ied probably 1 6 about 5 5. R S R Fi Tz RA CH I TOPHE NDOLPH ( son of Ra ndolph, fifth son of Duke of Westmoreland)

Married Joan, daughter and heiress of Cuthbert La La H D 1 ngton of ngton all . ied 588. E AR F Z RA L H DW D IT NDOLPH of angton all . With whom was found and in whom was con “ ” firmed by the Visitation of 1 6 1 4 the Fitz Ran dolph Arms substantially as hom e by the Lords

“ s c i n am as escen e r m mas oo s h w d d W d oc , u e Thi Bu k g d f ! o Tho t k D k of ce s er n c e R c ar H i s edi re he w n Glou t , u l to i h d , B th g as ot on ly all ied th e r al mi had c i ms or bi { i ui aes an d x to oy fa ly , but la g d g e ten sive estates. ’ me sa s c in ham s m er was a dau heer dm n u e S om Hu y Bu k g oth g of E u d, D k of “ r m m n erset, descen ed d r , an d en i s the p er an d sp en r d” f o E wa d III t o ow l do his ami . He was at rs ar isan an d en an en em R c r of f ly fi t a p t th y of i ha d III . 1 20

A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

of Middleham and by the S penn ithorne branch R F . 1 of itz andolph Died probably about 635. E AR F Z RA —P DW D IT NDOLPH ilgrim .

1 0 1 6 . Married May , 37 , at S cituate, Mass , to E T lizabeth Blossom, daughter of homas and A P nne Blossom . Moved to iscataway, N. J. , 1 D 1 6 669 . ied 75.

1 21

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S the American immigrants of the first three decades of the R eli i on It e that . sevent enth century, and was g was the settled purpose to enjoy liberty of conscience and an un trammeled communion with the Heavenly Father that determined these sturdy citizens of the British Mother land to seek a land ( though of a climate of doubtful hos pitality ) in which might be established a broader and * T n ot freer citizenship . his earlier emigration included a few persons in whom high principle and piety were united with a good degree of education and social posi

r . It tion, as well as of ability and cou age is true that of those who fled from, or struggled with, prelatical power oc and kingly oppression, many were of the lower s ial e n a rank ; but, commingled with these, and holding frat r l r E the elations with them, were nglish gentlemen and sons of gentlemen whose blood had descended for cen s tu rie from titled families . If we were disposed to proceed on a line of thought an d theory growing out of the emigr ation of the Fitz Randolphs we would have no difli culty in associatin g earlier religi ous affinities with the later religious develop a e a ments of this f mily. W have seen how for m ny hun dreds of years their religious character and loyalty had F r been sustained and continued . rom the days of the No n man Co quest, and afterward through the ages that fol F R lowed, the itz andolphs had generously and even lav o ishly c ntributed to Christian causes and charities, estab

“ d It will be born e i n mi n d that the Stuarts had succeeded th e Tudors an - h e n as es r y out Tudored the rs i n r c n t e state r ligio , tab had fai l Tudo fo i g . h n r e on th e cs r s re an d on th e li s ed by He y VIII , alik old Catholi of Yo k hi o P resby te rian s of S cotlan d. A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

lishin s u g monasteries , churches, and hospital witho t o In pause r stint . the fourteenth century it would ap pear that this family was socially and otherwise identified with the great movement toward religious freedom which e li ventuated in the publication of the Wy c fie Bible . ff Wycli e was under the protection of John of Gaunt, whose descendants were the kings of the House of Lan E N L caster, and also of the arl of orthumberland, ord H P L L r s enry ercy, a devoted ancastrian ; so the ancast ian L were inclined to be ollards, or advocates of Bible read x ing, and were opposed to e tremes of papal power and practices . F Ra Cicely, descendant of Mary itz ndolph of Middle R P D of Y ham, married ichard lantagenet, uke ork ; and E I their children, as we have seen, were dward V and Ri III H Y E th chard , kings of the ouse of ork . lizabe . E I daughter of dward V and granddaughter of Cicely, H II L n married, as has been noted , enry V , a ancastria descendant of John of Gaunt ; and thus were combined the houses of York and Lancaster in the person of the ir H r III son, en y V , and thus an end was definitely made to R the Wars of the oses . Th L the e ollard leaven was ever at work , and to thoughtful student of history it will appear that the Open

Bible, as opposed to priestly bigotry and restriction, found friends in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries amongst the intelligent and thoughtful members of the powerful families of Britain ; and the seed thus sown developed afterwards not so much indeed in the breaking away of the E nglish Church from Roman Catholicism ( which in some sense was a private enterprise of Hen ry

1 25 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

III a V , c rried out for his own as in the more significant separation from the established church in the x si teenth and seventeenth centuries , in which last separa tion even many thoughtful and conscientious members of T noble families participated . hese are facts which fit naturally with the emigr ation to America of families of the Fitz Randolph type ; and it is hardly possible to avoid the surmise and the inference that the making of common cause by the men of patrician blood with the plain people who had come to the point of sacrificing their all in the O cause of an pen Bible , was in keeping with the tradi tions of a noble line whose an cestors in the fourteenth century had supported the outspoken father of religious ' lifl e oh W c . liberty, J n y Y E n oung dward, the emigra t, kept in close touch with the advanced religi ous thought of those with whom he n S had embarked his fortu e and his life . ome time fol lowin g the formation of a non-conformist religi ous so ciety an d the establishment of a regular pastorate of the E e c Its same , dward join d this so iety or church . pastor

Rev. L t was John othrop , who came to Massachuset s a E r little later than young dward , and who was an ea nest e e pr ach r of those days , having been pastor for eight years n on - Lon of a conformist society, worshiping secretly in in don . Upon his meetings being discovered 1 632 in L n o don , preacher and parishioners were imprisoned for T something more than two years . hey were released

“ No dieres ect on the art th e r er i s or c he i n ten ed to r p of w it , ould , d wa d the En glish ch u rch of e twen tieth c en tu1 or towar d its ofisp rin an d > c mr e — c h r in r th e p s p rc Amer c . T e c urse g ovi o ad .wo k E i o al Chu h of i a o of en ce i s e i n steri ous an d ben eficen t Ou t m er ec e s n e d alik . of i p f t id al obl r s s e e e e . en e has c me an d our e r s e ult hav d v op d Ev out of vil , good o ; h a t s i e i n m he s e n r ress t ll b at ti e with t foot t p of Divi e p og . 1 26

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S house in Scituate during 1 636 ; and it appears that he sold his property there in 1 639 and moved to Barnstable -fi H with his minister and twenty ve townsmen . ere he built another home on an eight-acre-lot and lived in it till 1 6 49, When he sold it (and three other town lots) and — removed to his farm in West B am stable a tract of 1 43 T s— acres . his he occupied for twenty year when he sold

P N. . T out and moved with his family to iscataway, J his important change seems to have been brought about ( like that from E ngland) by a desire for ampler religi ous T e freedom . h augmenting restrictions and exaction s of Puritan rule in New E ngland seemed oppressive and un scriptural to a considerable body of excellent men an d R e women who longed for a large liberty of thought. li i Oiis to g freedom, complete and unstinted, was promised n e New P h w settlers by the Jersey roprietors , and t is con s i f t tuted the chie lure to the pious pilgrims . We now arrive at a point in this history and line of tradition at which some special consideration should be given to an alliance with another branch of Pilgrim stock . ' In the ages gone by the Fitz Randolphs were from time to x time e ceedingly fortunate in their marriages, gather — ing increase of strength and character and standing as — It well as of wealth from a number of these alliances . a may safely be said, however, that in no inst nce of this sort did greater advantage accrue to him who made the contract than was gained by the young E dward who in E 1 6 S . May, 37 , at cituate , Mass , married lizabeth, the A daughter of Thomas and nne Blossom . L H f E lizabeth Blossom was born in eyden, olland, o 1 620 H r P a . e h pious ilgrim parent ge about the year fat er,

1 28 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

T a n ev . hom s Blossom, was a promi ent member of R John ’ Robin son s church from the time its members left Scrooby “ ” Nottin ha mshire E n In 1 620 in g , g . the Mayflower and “ ” the Speedwell were to sail as companion ships for

A a . Th e d x meric Spee well was a little ship of si ty tons , which had been purchased and fitted out in Holland for P She 26 1 620 o the ilgrim congregation . sailed July , , fr m Delfthaven - the port of , about twenty four miles from L E “ eyden , for Southampton in ngland, where the May flower” for a week had been waiting with a partial list s L t l of pas engers from ondon . I was found that the litt e “ ” S peedwell needed repairs before putting out to sea .

Repairs were made at considerable expense and delay . The two vessels then set sail for their long voyage, but “ ” the Speedwell proved leaky and both vessels put into T o Dartmouth for further repairs . hen nce more they sailed together and progressed some three hundred miles ’ E n d of westward from Land s , when the captain the “ ” ’ S peedwell complained further of his boat s un seawor hin u e s. th e a t es Ag ain e two vess ls t rned b ck, this tim P m to putting into ly outh harbor, and here it was decided ” dismiss the Speedwell after a redistribution of pas sen ers n d g a cargo . R r h o efe ring to t is event, G vernor Bradford wrote So o , after they had took out such provisi n as the other W a ship could well stow , and concluded h t number and a what persons to send back, they made another sad p rt “ ” S e L ing, the little ship (the p edwell ) going to ondon , “ ” an d the other ( the Mayflower ) proceeding on her ” voyage This grievou s an d discouragi ng work was performed

1 29 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

b S e t mber 6 an d ei hteen rson etu n e in y p e , g pe s r r d “ ” the S edwe l Le den Lon wher the pe l to y by way of don, e l ak a as l as e y bo t w so d . Amon g those returnin g w Thom s ssom—w i l He h a Blo ith his l tt e family . , wit a few other l a in P ri c m a ed s on en a s e d g ilg ms , ac o p ni the de p d t p sen ers t i - H g back o the r church fri en ds in Hollan d . ere e n ed w P t R in son who c n i ued he r mai ith as or ob , o t n to shepherd the flock un til su ch time as the Society was able t e Ame i a o s nd over to r c others of the con gregation . Two such embarkati ons took place prior to th e dea th the rea h 1 62 a in of pious old p c er in 5, and the rem in g mb members e a rked in subsequen t voyages about 1 630 . “ The h F u N vem 1 62 1 v s ip ort ne in o ber, , brought o er twen ty -five members of the church besides children ; an d “ ” “ ” Au 1 62 th An n n d L ed in gust, 3 , e a ittle James carri oss h - r acr sixty more churc members in addition to child en . The Pilgrim church in Leyden an d its tran sported membership at New Plymouth in America continued as Th r on e body . e b anch in the New World never chose a a so p stor long as Pastor Ro binson was living. Du ring the interim E lder Brewster presided over the spiritu al con cern s of the strugglin g congregation at Cape Cod i 1 H d unt l 629 . e h a been one of the foremost pioneers in the N n m E n re otti gha shire movement in ngla d, which ’ ui s s ted in e tablishing the S eparatists S ociety in 1 607 . Fr m 1 8 S e 1 60 n t a o 5 9 to eptemb r, 7 , he had bee pos m ster c ir T at S rooby by appointment from S homas Randolph, ’ om Her P C ptroller of all Majesty s osts . Af P R 1 62 T o ter astor obinson died, in 5, homas Bl ssom wrote sorrowfully to Governor Bradford of this event an d u ff r of the distress of the church, and strenuo s e o ts

1 30

F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

e u i u In 1 the m e join d the ch rch at Sc t a te . 639 fa ily mov d with Pastor Lothrop from Scituate to Barnstable . E d ward Fitz Randolph had joined the church in 1 637 at is Scituate . H wife ( as has been seen) joined it half a d a S h a a e ozen years later at Barnst ble . e att ined the g of - Th m ninety three in her later home in New Jersey . e aro a of a fin e Christian character has ever surrounded the o r H r mem ry of this beloved and vene ated woman . e chil dren and her children’s children for many generations h fam have risen up to call her blessed . S e came with her ily from Massachusetts to New Jersey in 1 669 ; and near the spot where the peaceful Raritan finds the sea her soul E D P a went out to the ternal and ivine e ce . An d what shall we say of other commingling of family histories an d characteristics ? Coming down from re motest ages are kindred elements and influen ces ever — seeking to mate with each other though unconsciously and eventually embracing and joining their forces for the ’ The world s benefit. noble and gentle blood of the F A ownes was not, for a century after the visit of the mer P m P n ican ilgri s to lymouth , joined with the mi gled blood of the Fitz Randolphs and the Blossoms in any human veins ; yet in spirit these families were striving toward T F like ends . Whilst homas ownes was Mayor of Ply P u E n . mo th, g , the ilgrims found in him a staunch and ' r n influential friend . With his ofl sp i g was soon allied a family equally noble and strong—that of the Winthrops — a family that furnished for the enterprising infant col on ies of New E ngland a line of gr and and able governors reaching through successive gen erations ; and this united blood of the Fownes and Winthrops went on its way of

1 32 A S T O R Y O F A T H O U S A N D Y E A R S

- purity, simplicity, ability and self denial ( and betimes P under the modest Quaker garb worn by the eakes, the T L an Bownes , the hornes and the aings) to join the cient clan of the E dgars* an d the worthy lineage of the Man n in s s m a d g , and in due cour e to find and be a algam te with the heirs of all the Fitz Randolph tradition s and purposes in their now settled home in New Meantime sta rtling questions had arisen between the Colonies and the Motherland ; and some of the Fitz Ra n

dolphs, Whose fathers had fought for the Motherland in Canada in the controversies in which good Queen Anne n F d became i volved with the rench , felt compelled to stan with their neighbors in asserting manhood rights against ’ n King George s arbitrary dictates . Against these u an d reasonable dictates Quaker blood , as well as Baptist Puritan and Pilgrim blood rebelled ; and those Who buckled on armor in defence of what they considered As human rights acquitted themselves bravely and well .

to all the stories of more recent years , including the still “ r r g eater and more ter ible strife of the sixties , when American fought American in the contest of Union versus D isunion, and as to all the bravery and statesmanship

developed out of that fierce contest, are they not all writ ten—together with the participation therein of our Fitz

‘ escen e r m Cos atri c son Maldred b Al etha r D d d f o p of g , daughte an d e ress Uch tred P r n c e of North u mb ri a yf i va er h i of , i by E g , daught of Kin

e re . i s was th e s rce s r m ic th e Nevill es Eth l d Th ou al o f o wh h , or Fitz M

e s r n . S ee en e c Colle ti on s c n c er n dr ds, u g “G alogi al e o n i g the S c otti sh se 0 ar i s e b th e r m n in 1 87 3 Hou Edg , publ h d y G a pia Club . fi t is also n oteworthy that the desc en da n ts of the liberal an d hospitable n ers i m the r ms th e se en ee Holla d , w th who Pilg i of v t n th c en tury foun d an s m— n - r — y Wi c sci en ce eed m s , i n the s n r e ye rs a lu th o f o hould w thi la t hu d d a , m bec o e allied by family ti es with the desce n dan ts of those whom thei r a ers had s cc red an d r e S ee s r f th u o p ot cted. Hi to i es of Van Syck el an d e ami i e Opdyk f l s. 1 33 F I T Z R A N D O L P H T R A D I T I O N S

R the oo of er th andolph family in b ks s vice, e State R an d the es our a n d th a e ecords histori of own ge, a of e g not long since closed ? Our country is still making important history every a be t o day, and it may at le st modes ly h ped that on each of its pages may be found a record n ot wholly dissociated from the spirit of energy and high and worthy purpose ur F R which has hitherto pervaded o itz andolph traditions .

1 34